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As China hits back at ‘ridiculous’ Joe Biden comments on Xi Jinping, bilateral ties too feeble to weaken further, analysts say
- US President Joe Biden sparks row with comments on Chinese President Xi Jinping and ‘spy balloon’, just a day after top diplomat’s visit to China
- ‘Stop-start, forward-backward’ style of engagement to become routine, with China not hopeful of better rhetoric from Biden White House, observers say
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A war of words shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s crucial fence-mending visit to China is further proof of Washington’s inability to “walk the talk”, though it is hardly possible for bilateral ties to fall any lower, analysts said.
This came as US President Joe Biden took aim at Chinese President Xi Jinping, in bringing up the stand-off over an alleged Chinese “spy balloon” that had prompted Blinken to postpone his planned visit in February.
“The reason why [Chinese President] 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,” Biden – who is seeking re-election – told a fundraising event in California on Tuesday.
“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened.”
The US military shot down the balloon, which China said was a weather-monitoring vehicle caught up in a “force majeure accident”, on February 4 – days after it had drifted into American airspace.
The Chinese foreign ministry hit back swiftly at Biden’s remarks, calling them a “political provocation”.
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