Joe Biden “is not looking for a conflict” with China, he said according to excerpts released Wednesday from an interview with PBS, as the United States just destroyed a Chinese balloon that had flown over his territory.
“No,” the US president replied to the journalist who asked him if relations with Beijing had suffered “a blow.”
“We will fully compete with China, but we are not looking for a conflict,” he said.
“Act” if US sovereignty “is threatened”
In general, Washington was quite careful to tone it down after shooting down a Chinese balloon on Saturday, intended by the Americans to spy on sensitive military sites.
“If China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country,” Joe Biden assured Congress during his State of the Union address.
The relationship between the two superpowers has become tense in the wake of this affair. China strongly condemned the destruction of the balloon, said a “civilian aircraft used for research purposes, mainly meteorological” that had “unintentionally” entered US airspace.
The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, in this context canceled a planned visit to China at the last minute.
The Pentagon also revealed on Tuesday that Beijing on Saturday rejected the US proposal for a phone call between Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and his counterpart Wei Fenghe.
Source: BFM TV
