Asia-Pacific News
Chinese President Hu skips G8 summit due to Xinjiang unrest (1st Lead)
Jul 8, 2009, 1:24 GMT
Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao has pulled out of the Group of Eight summit that starts Wednesday and left for China in response to the escalating ethnic conflict in the far-western region of Xinjiang, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Hu left Italy in early Wednesday and will be represented by State Councilor Dai Bingguo at the summit of the G8 and major developing countries later this week in Italy, the ministry said in a statement.
Officials plan to reschedule Hu's visit to Portugal, which had been timed to follow the G8 summit, the ministry said.
Hu arrived Sunday in Rome, holding meetings with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The Chinese government ordered a curfew overnight Tuesday in the riot-torn city of Urumqi, the Xinjiang regional capital, where paramilitary police struggled to restore order as more Uighurs protested and thousands of Han Chinese staged a counter march.
Clashes on Sunday and Monday in Urumqi between Uighur protestors and riot police, and attacks on civilians, left at least 156 people dead and 1,080 injured, the government said.
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