BEIJING, China: China has termed as “ridiculous” United States President Joe Biden’s comments equating his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping with “dictators.”
“The relevant remarks by the US side are extremely ridiculous and irresponsible, they seriously violate basic facts, diplomatic protocol and China’s political dignity,” Mao Ning, foreign ministry spokeswoman, told a regular briefing on WEdnesday, adding: “They are an open political provocation.”
A day earlier, top United States diplomat Antony Blinken visited China to stabilize bilateral ties that Beijing says are at their lowest point since formal ties were established.
Biden also said that president Xi was very embarrassed when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was blown off course over United States airspace early this year, making a personal comment on the Chinese leader when Blinken Monday said the “chapter” should be closed.
It was unclear why Joe Biden commented on Xi – China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong after he secured a precedent-breaking third term as country’s president and head of the Communist Party.
“The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said at a fundraiser in California.
“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened. That wasn’t supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course,” Biden added.
Biden also said China “has real economic difficulties.”
Xi and Blinken agreed in their meeting to stabilize the intense rivalry between Beijing and Washington so it did not veer into conflict, but failed to produce any breakthrough during a rare visit to China by the US secretary of state.
They agreed to continue diplomatic interaction with more visits by United States officials in the coming weeks and months. Biden said later Tuesday that United States climate envoy John Kerry may visit Beijing soon.
Biden said Monday he thought ties between the two countries were on the right path, and he indicated that progress was made during Blinken’s trip to Beijing.
Biden said Tuesday that president Xi had been concerned by the so-called Quad strategic security group, which includes India, Japan, the US, and Australia. Biden said he previously told president Xi that the United States was not trying to encircle China with the Quad.
“He called me and told me not to do that because it was putting him in a bind,” Biden said.
Later this week, president Biden will meet Indian PM Modi and China is most likely to be a topic of discussion between the two leaders.
