(Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) The Chinese government criticized Joe Biden for his ‘extremely absurd and irresponsible’ remarks on Xi Jinping.
US President Joe Biden has compared his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to a "dictator" during a political fundraiser in California Tuesday night (June 20). The remarks came after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said his recent trip to China yielded "progress" in repairing the fractured relationship between Washington and Beijing.
Biden also mentioned the Chinese spy balloon incident during the speech, saying Xi "didn't know" the balloon was floating above the continental United States before it was shot down.
"That's what's a great embarrassment for dictators when they didn't know what happened," he said.
The US president also congratulated Blinken's work to repair the relationship between the US and China, saying he "did a good job" and the relationship would "take time" to heal. Biden added there would be a future visit by US climate envoy John Kerry to China "pretty soon."
Biden was in California to raise funds for his re-election bid in 2024.
Chinese, Russian Response to Biden
In response, the Chinese government criticized Biden's remarks against Xi. On Wednesday (June 21), Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called Biden's statement an "open political provocation" that is "extremely absurd and irresponsible.
"The remarks seriously contradict basic facts, seriously violate diplomatic etiquette, and seriously infringe on China's political dignity," Mao added.
As for the balloon, China maintained it was a civilian airship that accidentally veered off-course, with Mao accusing the US of "distorting the facts."
Xi became China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong after securing a precedent-breaking third term as president in March and as head of the controversial Chinese Communist Party in October. His critics are being censored online and risk detention offline.
Meanwhile, Fudan University Center for American Studies director Wu Xinbo dismissed Biden's "big mouth" as "a loose cannon," but his remarks would not totally undo what Blilnken had achieved on his China visit.
"Mutual trust is what China has been stressing, so Biden's comments are very destructive and damaging," he said.
The Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also provided a commentary about Biden's "dictator" branding on Xi, saying it was a "very contradictory" manifestation of US foreign policy.
"[T]hat's their business. We've our own bad relations with the United States of America and our very good relations with the People's Republic of China," he said.
Related Article: Joe Biden Calls China's Xi Jinping a Dictator
