Biden calls Jinping 'dictator' day after 'positive' bilateral talks
Poking fun at Chinese President Xi Jinping, United States President Joe Biden labeled him a "dictator" while speaking at a fundraiser event in California on Tuesday (local time). He also claimed the shooting down of a Chinese balloon drifting over the US came as an "embarrassment" for Xi. The remarks came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Xi in Beijing.
Why does this story matter?
In February this year, the tensions between US and China intensified further after a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon flew over the US airspace. While the US accused China of spying on it through the balloon, China insisted it was a weather balloon. The US shot down the balloon while China termed it an "absurd and hysterical" reaction and abuse of the use of force.
Biden acknowledged balloon blew off course
Biden said, "The reason why 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." He added, "That's a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn't know what happened. That wasn't supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course."
China facing economic difficulties: Biden
Biden further claimed China "has real economic difficulties." In May, China's industrial output and retail sales reportedly dropped as compared to expectations. This prompted concerns that China would require additional measures to stabilize its economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank forecast US growth for 2023 at 1.1%, up from 0.5% estimated in January. Meanwhile, China's growth is projected at 5.6%.
Xi claimed to have made progress with talks
While Xi claimed to have made some progress with the talks aimed at easing tensions between both economic superpowers engaged in a tug-of-war for global supremacy, Blinken said both sides were open to more talks. Notably, in the aftermath of the balloon fiasco, Blinken had even postponed his scheduled visit to China. The incident caused the relations between both countries to deteriorate further.
