At a time when both US and China trying to figure out assertions to cool down tensions between the two nations, US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called his Chinese counterpart "a dictator". "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," BBC quoted Biden as saying. "That's a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn't know what happened," he added.
Notably, the critical remarks from Biden came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinese President Xi Jinping as he wrapped up a two-day tour on Monday. Both agreed on a range of issues but added tensions between the two armies, trade relations and points related to the Russia-Ukraine war remained unaltered.
Meanwhile, reacting to Biden's remarks, China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, dubbed it as "extremely absurd and irresponsible". "It is "an open political provocation" that violates diplomatic etiquette," she said in a press conference.
Blinken meeting with Xi did not yield any breakthrough
Meanwhile, Blinken, who landed in Beijing on Sunday and held multiple meetings over a series of pressing issues, later held the much-awaited meeting with President Xi Jinping. The vital meeting came hours before he was scheduled to take off from the land on which the US administration constantly claimed for grave human rights violations. The top US diplomat, who was the first one to visit Beijing in the last five years, reiterated that the Pentagon always advocated maintaining a nutritious relationship between the two nations and added the setting would be beneficial for the planet.
"President Biden sent me to Beijing because he believes that the United States and China have an obligation and responsibility to manage our relationship. The United States is committed to doing that. It's in the interest of the United States, in the interests of China, and in the interest of the world."
What Xi Jinping says
In a reply, Xi said, "The two sides have agreed to follow through on the common understandings President Biden and I have reached in Bali."
Further, the Chinese leader claimed that the two sides had made progress and reached agreements on "some specific issues", but did not elaborate. "This is very good," President stressed.
