A Chinese government official rebuked President JoeBiden for his characterization of President Xi Jinping as a “dictator.” A spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry called it 'blatant political provocation,' as well as 'absurd and irresponsible.'
Biden, at a fundraising event on Tuesday, discussed the Chinese spy balloon incident from earlier this year and said Xi was embarrassed by the situation because “dictators” don’t like not knowing what happened within their country.“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 is he didn’t know it was there. No, I’m serious.
Biden's remarks “go totally against facts and seriously violate diplomatic protocol, and severely infringe on China’s political dignity," the spokeswoman added. Blinken's originally scheduled trip was postponed due to the suspected spy balloon that traversed the continental U.S. from west to east, including flying over sensitive military locations. The U.S. military shot down the balloon, which the Chinese government insisted was simply a weather balloon blown off course, once it reached the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of the Carolinas.
"I don’t think leadership knew where it was and knew what was in it and knew what was going on,” Biden told reporters on Saturday, making comments similar to those he made on Tuesday. “I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional.”
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