FOG BLOG WORLD NEWS LOG: TRUDEAU TO ATTEND THE G2O SUMMIT , BIDEN TO MEET WITH PRESIDENT XI!

Question of government's China strategy looms as attention turns to G20 meetings Trudeau says international authorities will make determination of Uyghur genocide Canada is facing a key test of its China strategy, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to come face to face with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the upcoming G20 meetings in Indonesia.

Questions about Canada's stance on Beijing — which are expected to be articulated more clearly in an upcoming release of an Indo-Pacific strategy document — followed Trudeau as he began a tour of Southeast Asia, including several days at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.

The opposition has also criticized the prime minister over reports that China sought to sway the 2019 federal election.

"It's long past time for the Trudeau government to come forward with a robust plan to counter Beijing's foreign interference operations here on Canadian soil," said Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong and Quebec lieutenant Pierre Paul-Hus in a statement.

Asked by reporters about the issue during a closing press conference at the ASEAN summit in Bali, Trudeau said Canadians should be assured about the integrity of elections. "But of course, we're always going to engage with leaders in ways that highlight concerns of Canadians to stand up for our values and underscore preoccupations that Canadians have about things going on in the world," he said.

Trudeau wouldn't say concretely whether he would raise the issue if he talked with Xi. The two are expected to sit close together, as seating arrangements are often by alphabetical order.

"As always, I will raise issues of human rights, issues of matters that preoccupy Canadians with any and all leaders that I engage," Trudeau said Sunday. Xi attended last year's meeting of the G20 virtually, so the two leaders did not cross paths at the event, which took place just over a month after Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor returned home from detention in China.

Trudeau was similarly vague on questions about whether he or Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly would meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the meeting.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Xi are expected to meet for face-to-face talks Monday, ahead of the start of the G20 meetings.