China has condemned as irresponsible and “a public, political provocation” US president Joe Biden’s description of Xi Jinping as a dictator.
Mr Biden told a political fundraising event in California on Tuesday that the Chinese president had been unaware that one of his country’s spy balloons was flying over American airspace in February.
“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,” he said.
“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened. That wasn’t supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course.”
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The row over the spy balloon derailed US-China relations and caused secretary of state Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing to be delayed for four months.
This week’s two-day visit, which included a meeting with Mr Xi, was judged by both sides to have been a success but Mr Biden’s remark drew a sharp rebuke on Tuesday from the Chinese foreign ministry.
“It is against the basic facts and diplomatic protocols, seriously violates China’s political dignity and amounts to public political provocation,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
“It is a blatant political provocation. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition. The US remarks are extremely absurd and irresponsible.”
She said the balloon had been blown off course and accidentally strayed into US airspace, accusing Washington of exaggerating the importance of the incident.
“The US should have handled it in a calm and professional manner. However, the US distorted facts and used forces to hype up the incident, fully revealing its nature of bullying and hegemony,” she said.
Mr Blinken said after his meetings in Beijing that he regarded the spy balloon incident as closed and he is due to be followed to the Chinese capital by other senior US officials.
Mr Blinken invited China’s foreign minister Qin Gang to visit Washington and Mr Xi and Mr Biden could meet at an Asian-Pacific summit in San Francisco in November.
Mr Blinken’s visit did not see China and the US resolving any of their differences on issues such as Taiwan and human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. And Mr Blinken failed to persuade his Chinese counterparts to establish a military-to-military crisis communication channel.
Washington argues that such a channel could prevent unintended clashes between Chinese and US military vessels and aircraft in the seas around China.
But China complains that the US has too many warships and military aircraft in its neighbourhood and fears that such a channel could make the US military feel more secure in patrolling the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
Taipei said a Chinese aircraft carrier group passed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, adding that the self-governing island had sent “appropriate forces” to monitor its activities.
Beijing has described the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China as “the core of its core interests” and has not ruled out the use of force if the island ever declares independence.
