Ethnic Strife Continues as Hu Returns to China

PARIS —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, abandoning plans to attend the Group of Eight summit meeting as news reports spoke of continued unrest.

At the meeting, Mr. Hu had planned talks with President Obama on issues including climate change. Mr. Obama arrived in Italy on Wednesday from Moscow.

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.

News reports from Urumqi, the regional capital, said up to 1,000 Han Chinese protesters gathered in Urumqi as squads of anti-riot police tried to break up the crowd.

Reuters said scuffles broke out as police and security forces seized apparent ringleaders, prompting cries of “release them, release them.”

The official Xinhua news agency said China would be represented at the meeting of the world’s leading industrialized economic powers by State Councillor Dai Bingguo at the meeting in the central Italian city of L’Aquila.

The host, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has expanded the meeting to include broader talks with leaders of the world’s main emerging economies.

Mr. Hu arrived in Italy on Sunday and also was scheduled to visit Portugal. The postponement of his plans seemed an indication of the seriousness of the unrest in northwestern China.

His 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 fear that the United States is working toward a separate deal with China outside the global negotiating framework.