By Derek Cai BBC News
US President Joe Biden has called Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator at a fundraiser in California.
His remarks come a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Mr Xi for talks in Beijing, which were aimed at easing tensions between the two superpowers.
Mr Xi said some progress had been made in Beijing, while Mr Blinken indicated both sides were open to more talks.
China is yet to respond to Mr Biden’s comments.
President Biden, at the fundraiser on Tuesday night local time, also said Mr Xi was embarrassed over the recent tensions around a Chinese spy balloon that had been blown off course over the US.
“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,” Mr Biden said.
“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened.”
Mr Blinken’s visit to Beijing - the first by a top US diplomat in almost five years - restarted high-level communications between the two countries. Both Mr Biden and Mr Xi hailed it as a welcome development. But Mr Blinken made clear that major differences remain between the two countries.
Washington and Beijing have long locked horns over an array of issues including trade, human rights, and Taiwan.
But relations have especially deteriorated in the past year. With the US election looming and tensions with China emerging as a political issue, some Republican senators have attacked the Biden administration for being “soft” on China.
Are box cars an official term of measurement in the states now? Man, the imperial measurement systems are weird.
“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened.”
Unlike Biden, President Xi is pretty aware of what is happening in and around his country. I have little doubt he knew what happened to the balloon, but I also can’t imagine he was particularly embarrassed about it. He wasn’t the one who missed shooting at a freaking balloon.
Fun fact: entire F-22 program cost 80 billion dollars so far, and for that price, their complete list of air victories is:
- One (1) weather balloon
Now do the statistics on the F-35 program! lmao. So far all those things do is rust on the aircraft carriers and “land” in the ocean.
They don’t land near the Titanic do they? I’m just wondering whether it’s a tourism thing that we haven’t heard about.
Biden also released a statement earlier this year saying the balloon wasn’t Chinese in origin. regardless of whether it is or not, this is showing his whole ass. i mean, shitting all over a diplomatic visit is also showing your whole ass, but this is the cherry on top.