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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning responded after US President Joe Biden called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator”.
Biden’s comment: On Tuesday night, Biden attended a fundraiser in California, where he said Xi was embarrassed when a Chinese suspect spy balloon was shot down by the Air Force over the East Coast earlier this year.
“The reason Xi Jinping was very upset when I shot down this balloon with two train cars full of spy equipment is that he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said.
“It’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened. It wasn’t supposed to go where it was. He was deflected,” Biden added.
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Response from China: “[Biden’s remarks] totally against the facts and seriously violate diplomatic protocol, and seriously undermine China’s political dignity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said during a briefing. daily press. “This is a blatant political provocation. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition. The US remarks are extremely absurd and irresponsible.
Mao also reiterated China’s explanation that the meteorological research balloon’s passage through US airspace was unintentional.
“The United States should have handled this calmly and professionally,” she said. “However, the United States distorted the facts and used force to hype the incident, fully exposing its intimidation and hegemonic nature.”
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United States-China relationship: Biden’s comment came a day after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Beijing in an attempt to stabilize relationships with China. Blinken’s trip, which was originally scheduled for February, had previously been postponed due to the Chinese “spy balloon” saga. On Monday, he became the first Biden administration ministerial official to visit the East Asian country.
Although no breakthrough was made during the visit, the two countries agreed to continue their diplomatic engagement in the coming weeks and months.
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