China said on Thursday it had lodged a formal protest over US President Joe Biden’s description of Chinese leader Xi Jinping as an unrealistic “dictator”.
Biden’s comments at a re-election fundraiser in the 2024 presidential election on Tuesday opened a new rift in the Sino-American relationship, shortly after Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a visit to Beijing. which was intended as a step towards stabilizing relations. and improve communication with China.
Biden called the Chinese president a “dictator,” described him as alienated from reality during last winter’s uproar over the downing of a Chinese spy balloon over US soil, and downplayed the importance of China, saying the country was facing “real economic difficulties.” “.
The Chinese embassy in the US capital said it had lodged a formal protest after Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng told senior White House and State Department officials on Wednesday that Washington “should take appropriate steps to undo the negative impact.” of what Biden said or “face all the consequences.”
“With the latest irresponsible comments about China’s political system and its top leader, one cannot help but question the sincerity on the part of the United States” regarding its intention to stabilize bilateral relations, the Chinese embassy statement read. , quoted by the American news agency Associated Press (AP).
“The Chinese government and its people do not accept any political provocation against China’s top leader and will respond firmly,” the embassy added.
The diplomatic conflict with China comes at a time when Biden receives Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington on a state visit with great honors whose central theme will be a shared caution in relation to China.
As an official government-to-government communication, the ambassador’s message to the Biden Administration carries more weight than critical comments issued Wednesday by a Beijing spokesman.
China did not provide further details on how its diplomat in Washington delivered the message, whether it wanted an apology from the White House or what the consequences would be.
In recent years, Beijing and Washington have had successive diplomatic conflicts and China has resorted to retaliatory measures, oscillating between cutting diplomatic relations and carrying out military maneuvers against Taiwan to show its discontent.
Asked today, at the end of the meeting with Modi in the Oval Office of the White House, about the consequences for relations between China and the United States of calling Xi Jinping a “dictator”, Biden said that this does not undermine progress in the negotiations bilateral. relations and that he hopes to meet with the Chinese leader “in the near future”.
As for his comments on China, the US head of state noted: “That is not something that is going to change much.”
Source: TSF
