The US President causes a new scandal.
(Photo: REUTERS)
Washington US President Joe Biden equated China’s head of state Xi Jinping with a dictator, causing great outrage in Beijing. At a fundraiser in California on Tuesday, Biden brought up the so-called balloon affair. In February, the US military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon in American airspace. Xi was upset because he didn’t know where the balloon was at the time it was launched because it was off course, Biden said, adding, “It’s always been very embarrassing for dictators not to know what happened.” Biden then said, among other things, that China has “real economic difficulties”.
China reacted angrily. Biden has seriously violated the political dignity of the People’s Republic by calling President Xi a dictator, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in Beijing on Wednesday. This is tantamount to a public political provocation. China is significantly dissatisfied and rejects the statement.
Biden recently launched the campaign for his re-election in November 2024. He collects money for the election campaign at fundraising events. Just before Biden’s comment on Xi, Antony Blinken became the first US Secretary of State in five years to visit China on Sunday and Monday, trying to mend the strained relations between the two countries at least somewhat.
The Russian leadership, which is increasingly seeking to close ranks with China in the course of its war in Ukraine, referred to the trip made by the US chief diplomat. Biden’s dictator reference shows once again how inconsistent, contradictory and unpredictable American foreign policy is, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow.
‘This is very embarrassing for dictators’ – Joe Biden angers China
Such a follow-up to Blinken’s visit to China is incomprehensible, especially since there were several conciliatory statements during his trip. But that’s what the Americans did. “We have our own bad relationship with the United States of America and our very good relationship with the People’s Republic of China.”
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During his stay in China, Blinken even met Xi, which was not originally intended. Despite the differences, both politicians then signaled confidence that the relationship could improve – even if China’s top diplomat Wang Yi had previously stated that relations were at a low point. Blinken’s trip was actually planned for February, but was postponed because of the balloon affair. Both countries also cross paths on many other issues.
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