Biden calls Chinese President Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ who was ashamed of the spy balloon a day after the foreign minister visited Beijing to ease tensions between the nations
President Joe Biden called Xi Jinping a dictator on Tuesday, in casual remarks a day after his foreign minister visited Xi in Beijing to try to ease tensions.
Antony Blinken became the first top US diplomat to visit China in five years, and his trip was overshadowed by COVID, tensions in Taiwan and the “spy balloon” saga.
Washington and Beijing said progress had been made, without offering concrete examples.
But Blinken’s work was quickly overshadowed by Biden’s comments at a fundraiser in California on Tuesday.
“The reason why Xi Jinping got really upset when I shot down that balloon with two wagons full of spy equipment in it was he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said, referring to the February incident.
“That is a great shame for dictators. When they didn’t know what was happening.
“That shouldn’t have gone where it was. It was blown off course.”
Joe Biden can be seen on Tuesday at an Artificial Intelligence event in San Francisco. He later attended a fundraiser where he called the Chinese president a dictator
Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, is seen in Beijing on Monday for a meeting with Xi Jinping. Blinken is the first top US official to visit China in five years
China has yet to respond to Biden’s comments.
In March, Xi secured a precedent-breaking third term as president after being elected leader of the ruling Communist Party for another five years in October, making him China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
Biden also said China has “real economic problems.”
China’s economy collapsed in May as forecasts for industrial production and retail sales growth fell short, reinforcing expectations that Beijing will need to do more to support a shaky post-pandemic recovery.
The World Bank earlier this month forecast US growth for 2023 of 1.1 percent – more than double the 0.5 percent forecast in January.
China’s growth, meanwhile, is expected to rise to 5.6 percent, compared to a forecast of 4.3 percent in January.
Blinken and Xi agreed at their Monday meeting to stabilize the intense rivalry between Washington and Beijing so it doesn’t turn into conflict, but failed to make a breakthrough during a rare visit to China by the minister of Foreign Affairs.
They agreed to continue diplomatic engagement with more visits from US officials in the coming weeks and months.
The Chinese “spy balloon” is shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4
The “spy balloon” is seen over Billings, Montana, on Feb. 1. It crossed the US before being shot down
Biden said later on Tuesday that US climate envoy John Kerry may soon go to China.
Biden said on Monday he thought relations between the two countries were on the right track, and he indicated progress had been made during Blinken’s journey.
Biden said Tuesday that Xi was concerned about the so-called Quad strategic security group, which includes Japan, Australia, India and the United States.
The US president said he had previously told Xi that the US was not trying to encircle China with the Quad.
“He called me and told me not to do that because it would get him into trouble,” Biden said.
Later this week, Biden will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China is expected to be a topic of conversation between the two leaders.