US still hopes for improved China ties despite Biden's 'dictator' remark
Even after Joe Biden compared China's leader to embarrassed 'dictators,' the White House stated on Wednesday that it had 'every expectation' that the senior US diplomat's recent visit to Beijing will result in improved relations
US president Joe Biden. AFP
Even after Joe Biden compared China’s leader to embarrassed “dictators,” the White House stated on Wednesday that it had “every expectation” that the senior US diplomat’s recent visit to Beijing will result in improved relations.
A senior administration official said on Wednesday that US State Secretary Antony Blinken “made some progress” during a long-awaited visit to China.
“We have every expectation of building on that progress,” the official said.
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Blinken’s visit, which concluded Monday, was meant to re-establish lines of communication as tensions simmer between the two global powers over Taiwan and an incident involving a Chinese balloon in February, which Washington believes was spying on the United States.
But China on Wednesday slammed Biden’s remarks equating Chinese leader Xi Jinping with “dictators.”
Beijing called that statement, made by Biden on Tuesday at a fundraiser in California, “an open political provocation.”
The White House afterward sought to smooth tensions.
“It should come as no surprise that the President speaks candidly about China and the differences that we have – we are certainly not alone in that,” the official said later Wednesday.
“The President believes that diplomacy, including that undertaken by Secretary Blinken, is the responsible way to manage tensions,” the official added.
Tuesday was not the first time Biden has made significant, even provocative, statements at fund-raising receptions — usually small-scale events at which cameras and recordings are forbidden but where journalists may listen to and transcribe the president’s opening remarks.
At one such event last October Biden spoke of the threat of nuclear “Armageddon” from Russia.
With inputs from agencies
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