‘PROVOCATION’

Biden Enrages China by Calling Xi Jinping a Dictator

The row erupted just one day after Antony Blinken met the Chinese leader to ease tensions.

China responded angrily on Wednesday to comments made by President Joe Biden in which he described Xi Jinping as a dictator. At a campaign event in California on Tuesday, Biden discussed the Chinese spy balloon that was blasted out of the skies over the U.S. in February, claiming that Xi hadn’t known the balloon had flown off course. “The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two boxcars full of spy equipment in it is he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said. “That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened.” On Wednesday, Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called Biden’s remarks “an open political provocation,” according to the AFP news agency. “The relevant remarks by the U.S. side are extremely ridiculous and irresponsible, they seriously violate basic facts, diplomatic protocol, and China’s political dignity,” she said. Biden’s comments about Xi came the day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Xi in an effort to reduce tensions between the U.S. and China.