Dispute between China and US rise as Joe Biden calls Xi ‘Dictator’
US President Joe Biden remarks come just as the two nations strive to dial down the intense rivalry.
China’s foreign ministry has blamed the US president of “political provocation” after Joe Biden named Xi Jinping a “dictator”.
The words “seriously violated China’s political dignity”, foreign ministry representative Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
Biden made the comments a day after the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, met Xi on a visit to China and strived to reduce tensions between the two nations. He even said Xi was ashamed when a Chinese balloon was blown off course over the US earlier this year.
“The reason Xi Jinping got very upset when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn’t know it was there,” Biden spoke at a fundraiser in California on Tuesday.
“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what had happened, that wasn’t supposed to go where it was. It was blown off course,” Biden continued.
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A supposed Chinese spy balloon flew over US airspace in February. That happening and exchanges of trips by US and Taiwanese officers have recently heightened US-China tensions.
Xi confirmed a precedent-breaking third term in March as president, making him China’s most influential leader since Mao Zedong.
Biden even said that China “has real economic difficulties”.
China’s economy struggled in May, with industrial output and retail sales increase missing predictions, adding to anticipations that Beijing will require to do more to shore up a shaky post-pandemic recovery.
The World Bank earlier this month predicted US growth for 2023 at 1.1%, around double the 0.5% prediction in January, while China’s growth is expected to rise to 5.6%, compared with a 4.3% forecast in January.
Source – The Guardian
