US President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed confidence that he will soon meet Xi Jinping after saying the Chinese leader belongs to the category of “dictators”.
Biden rejected “the theory that the relationship with China is collapsing” and praised Monday’s talks in Beijing between China’s president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who sought to keep tensions between the two powers under control.
“Secretary Blinken had a great trip to China. I look forward to meeting President Xi sometime in the future – soon,” Biden said at a press conference alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Implicitly reinforcing his recent remarks about the Chinese president, Biden said he would not “avoid” saying what he considers to be “the facts” about China. “It’s not something I’m going to change much,” he assumed.
Two days after Blinken’s trip to Beijing, Biden said, citing a recent episode in which the US destroyed a Chinese balloon it said was spying on US territory, that “the reason why [o presidente chinês] got so upset” when he got shot “that balloon is full of spy stuff because he didn’t know that [o dispositivo] it was there”.
“It is very embarrassing for dictators when they don’t know what happened,” Biden continued, adding: “When [o balão] was shot was extremely ashamed and even denied it [o aparelho] was there,” the US president said at the time.
China’s ambassador to Washington, Xie Feng, filed a protest with the White House and State Department over Biden’s “disparaging” remarks about the Chinese president.
Biden’s comments are “false, absurd and irresponsible and constitute an overt political provocation,” the embassy said in a statement, following Beijing’s condemnation.
G20 summit scheduled for September
In politics, Biden has been known for decades for his controversial remarks, but also for his belief in the power of personalized diplomacy.
Biden says he spoke with Xi Jinping for more than 24 hours when they were both vice presidents, adding to the cordial atmosphere when they first met as president in November on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Bali.
The two presidents will be in New Delhi in September for the next G20 summit.
In November, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum meets in San Francisco and Xi is one of the guests.
The talks in Bali came after tensions rose following a visit to Taiwan by then Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
Biden’s candor was not shared by at least one other Western leader – New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who is due to visit Beijing next week. When asked on Thursday if he agreed with Biden’s assessment of the Chinese leader, Hipkins said “no,” adding that “the form of government China has is a matter for the Chinese people.”
The US has repeatedly criticized China’s record of alleged human rights abuses while insisting it is not pursuing regime change.
In a speech last year, Blinken said the United States needs to prove democracy is more effective than Beijing’s “centralized, party-led system,” but added, “We’re not looking to transform China’s political system.”
Source: DN
