The President of the United States Joe Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ at a fundraising event in California on Tuesday after top US diplomat Antony Blinken met Xi in Beijing to rest some tension between the two countries.
Biden also added that Xi was embarrassed after the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon from its airspace. “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. That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened,” said Biden.
Chinese authorities have firmly opposed this statement by Joe Biden as China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning termed it as “an open political provocation” that violates diplomatic etiquette. She also said that the remarks by Biden are “extremely absurd and irresponsible”
These remarks from Biden came right after Antony Blinken visited Beijing to stabilize the intense rivalry between the two countries. His visit was the first-ever visit from the highest US official in five years. In the meeting, Xi and Blinken covered various issues like Taiwan, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the US-China semiconductor rivalry.
After the visit, both Xi and Blinken agreed to maintain open communications to avoid an all-out conflict. “We both agree on the need to stabilize our relationship,” said Blinken. The US diplomat assured Xi that America is not trying to negate China’s economy after banning the exports of high-end semiconductors, rather they are just protecting themselves.
In return, China restated that it will not be sending any weaponry to Russia to aid its Ukraine invasion. However, Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said that there is “no room for compromise” on the Taiwan issue.
