CALIFORNIA: China hit back on Wednesday after US President Joe Biden referred to President Xi Jinping as a “dictator”, saying the remark was absurd and a provocation in an unexpected row following efforts by both sides to lower tensions.
Biden made his comments just a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing to stabilise relations that China says are at their lowest point since formal ties were established.
Attending a fundraiser in California, Biden said Xi was very embarrassed when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was blown off course over US airspace early this year. Blinken had said on Monday the chapter should be closed.
“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. That wasn’t supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course,” Biden said.
Expressing China’s strong dissatisfaction, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Biden’s comments seriously violated facts, diplomatic protocol and China’s political dignity. “They’re an open political provocation,” she told a news conference.
Asked how aware Xi had been about the balloon’s movements, Mao reiterated China’s previous explanation that the passage of the balloon through US airspace had been unintended and caused by circumstances beyond its control. “Biden’s big mouth is a loose cannon,” said Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
Xi became China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong after securing a third term as president in March and head of the Communist Party in October.