The State Department applauded in Beijing on Wednesday after China’s Foreign Ministry came out strongly against President Biden calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator.”
“We won’t hesitate to call out areas where we disagree or be upfront and forthright,” State Department senior deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters. “One of those areas that the president and the secretary have been clear about is the differences between democracies and autocracies.”
Biden sparked fury Tuesday night after calling Xi a dictator and suggesting the Chinese leader was “embarrassed” by the “balloon” debacle earlier this year.
CHINA STRIKES BACK AT BIDEN FOR CALLING PRESIDENT XI JINPING A DICTATOR: ‘EXTREMELY ABSURD AND IRRESPONSIBLE’
Speaking at a fundraiser in California, Biden said: “The reason Xi Jinping was so upset when I shot down this balloon with two train cars full of spy equipment is that ‘he didn’t know he was there.
“It’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened,” he continued. “It wasn’t supposed to go where it was.”
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Biden said the ball ‘went off course’ as it traveled across the United States
“And he didn’t know it. When he was shot, he was very embarrassed. He denied he was even there,” Biden added.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning responded to the comments Wednesday morning and accused Biden of “blatant political provocation”, calling his comments “absurd” and “irresponsible”.
“China expresses strong dissatisfaction and strong opposition,” Mao said, adding that Biden’s comments “completely run against the facts and seriously violate diplomatic protocol, and seriously undermine China’s political dignity.” “.
BIDEN CALLS CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING A DICTATOR
Mao once again claimed that the United States had mishandled the wayward balloon, which China said was collecting weather data, and said, “The United States should have handled it calmly and professionally.
“However, the United States distorted the facts and used force to hype the incident, fully exposing its bullying and hegemonic nature,” she added.
Patel supported the president’s comments and told reporters that “it should come as no surprise that we have differences and disagreements with the [People’s Republic of China] PRC.”
The public spat comes just a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken completed a trip to China in a bid to improve historically weak relations between Washington and Beijing.
Patel said the United States would continue to engage with China through diplomatic and “responsible” means to “manage tensions and dispel misconceptions.”
“That doesn’t mean, of course, that we won’t be upfront and forthright about our difference,” he added.