NYTimes: Hu Leaves G-8 in Italy After Deadly Clashes in China - by Alan Cowell and Elisabetta Povoledo
Hu Leaves G-8 in Italy After Deadly Clashes in China - by Alan Cowell and Elisabetta Povoledo
President Hu Jintao of China cut short a trip to Italy on Wednesday to fly home after the deadly ethnic clashes in the northwestern Xinjiang region continue, abandoning plans to attend the Group of Eight summit meeting as news reports spoke of continued unrest.The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on its Web site that Mr. Hu was returning “given the current situation in Xinjiang,” where state media say at least 156 people have died in China’s worst ethnic clashes in decades between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.
Hu's absence from the G-8 meeting is also significant for the Obama administration which is expected to unveil a forceful new message on climate change. While the European G-8 members welcome the shift in American policy on global warming, they are also fearing that the United States is working toward a separate deal with China outside the global negotiating framework. China will now be represented at the meeting of the world’s leading industrialized economic powers by State Councilor Dai Bingguo at the meeting in the central Italian city of L’Aquila.
Labels: China, EU, Islam, Italy, Muslim Uighurs, Xinjiang region
