Why did Chinas president miss the G8 and why are riot police on the march?”
FLORENCE – Chinese President Hu Jintao has cut short his G8 visit to Italy and flown back to Beijing in the wake of Xinjiang’s worsening situation. Hu will miss the meeting between the leaders of the G8 major industrial industrialized nations and five emerging developing countries in L’Aquila, China Daily reports. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hu left Italy for Beijing this morning after concluding the State visit to the country days ahead of schedule because of the riots in Xinjiang. According to the original plan, Hu, who arrived in Rome on Sunday, was expected to attend the summit from July 8-10, and then visit Portugal from July 10-12. State Councillor Dai Bingguo will represent Hu during the sessions, according to the Foreign Ministry, and the Chinese and Portugal governments will discuss the fresh date of Hu’s State visit at some other time. A total of 156 people have died and a further 1,000-odd injured in the riot on Sunday evening in Urumqi, the capital of northwe
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Hu Jintao is flying back to Beijing following rioting in the northwestern region of Xinjiang and will miss this week’s G8 summit hosted by Italy, state media said on Wednesday. “Chinese President Hu Jintao cut short his stay in Italy after concluding a state visit to the country and left for home early Wednesday due to the situation in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,” the official Xinhua news agency said. State Councilor Dai Bingguo will attend the G8 summit in Hu’s place, the report added. Bloody ethnic clashes in the capital of Xinjiang earlier this week killed 156 people and wounded more than 1,000. The G8 summit is due to open in the central Italian city of L’Aquila later on Wednesday and Hu had been scheduled to join the talks on Thursday. Hu arrived in Italy on Sunday and had visited Florence on Tuesday. Italian news agency Ansa said the Chinese president would fly directly out of the nearby city of Pisa. Xinjiang has long
