(San Francisco) US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping belonged to the category of “dictators” during a reception in California with donors from the Democratic Party, in the presence of journalists.
Referring to a recent episode in which the United States destroyed a Chinese balloon which they said was spying on their territory, Joe Biden assured that “the reason why (the Chinese president) got so angry when I shot down this balloon full of spy equipment is that he did not know (that this device) was there”.
“It’s very embarrassing for dictators when they don’t know what happened,” he continued, adding: “When [le ballon] was shot, [Xi Jinping] found himself very embarrassed and he even denied that [l’aéronef] was there.”
“And by the way, I promise you, don’t worry about China. […] China has real economic difficulties,” said the 80-year-old Democrat, campaigning for re-election.
Still about Xi Jinping, Joe Biden said again: “We are in a situation where he wants to establish a relationship again”.
Recalling that the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken was returning from China, the American president considered that the latter had done “a good job”, but explained that it “would take time” with regard to the very tense relationship between the two great powers.
The all-out rivalry between China and the United States had turned into an open diplomatic crisis with this balloon episode in February.
This is not the first time that Joe Biden has made landmark statements at fundraising receptions, small-scale events where cameras, microphones and cameras are excluded – but journalists present can listen to the introductory remarks of the president and transcribe them.
It was during an event of this kind, in October 2022, that Joe Biden had, for example, mentioned the risk of a nuclear “apocalypse” triggered by Russia.