Beijing –
China on Wednesday criticized President Joe Biden’s comments calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a “very ridiculous and irresponsible” dictator.
The new clash of words comes just over a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded a visit to Beijing that was intended to break the ice in a relationship that has reached an all-time low.
The porte-parole of ministère des affaires étrangères, Mao Ning, a declaré que les remarques of Biden lords d’une collection of fonds in Californie « sont totalement contraires aux faits, violent gravement of the protocole diplomatique and portent gravement atteinte à la dignité politique de China “.
This is a blatant political provocation. “China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition,” Mao told a daily press conference.
“The US’s remarks are absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible,” Mao said.
Blinken’s visit, during which he met Xi, was intended to ease tensions between the two superpowers but did not appear to have yielded solid results.
Biden, at the fundraiser Tuesday night local time, said Xi was embarrassed by recent tensions surrounding a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down by the Air Force over the East Coast.
It is a great embarrassment for dictators. “When they didn’t know what happened,” Biden said.
Mao repeated China’s claim that the balloon was intended for meteorological research and that it had deviated by mistake.
“The United States should have dealt with it calmly and professionally,” she said. He added, “But the United States distorted the facts and used force to deceive the incident, fully revealing the nature of intimidation and hegemony.”
Blinken’s visit was originally scheduled for February, but was postponed after the balloon crashed. Although this marks a return to high-level contacts between the two sides, China continues to reject talks between their militaries.
The United States has said, in recent days, that Chinese warplanes and warships have maneuvered threatening ways towards their American counterparts in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, despite agreements between them on protocols to avoid such incidents.
During Blinken’s visit, China reiterated its strong objection to US support for democracy on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory. The United States has also sought to block Beijing’s access to technology to manufacture advanced computer chips that could be used for military purposes, and has accused China of stealing American intellectual property.
After meeting with Xi on Monday, Blinken acknowledged that there were inherent differences. “We have no illusions about the challenges of managing this relationship. There are many issues on which we strongly and even strongly disagree.
