Chinese President cuts short G8 summit visit due to Xinjiang violence

Florence (Italy), July 8 (ANI): 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 northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The unrest has been described as the "deadliest riot since New China was founded in 1949."

Rioters burned 261 motor vehicles, including 190 buses, at least 10 taxis and two police cars, according to Liu Yaohua, the region's police chief.

The G8 nations are Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Canada and the United States, while the G5 includes China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. (ANI)