(UnitedVoice.com) – President Joe Biden has always been proud of his positive relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He’s claimed — dubiously — that while the two were vice presidents of their respective countries, they traveled over 17,000 miles together. Now, he seems to have abruptly changed his mind.
Biden: “The reason why XJP 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..That's a great embarrassment for dictators.” https://t.co/O0kSfCNSrN
— Sari Arho Havrén (@SariArhoHavren) June 21, 2023
On June 20, Biden spoke at a fundraiser alongside California Governor Gavin Newsom (D). When his speech reached the subject of the Chinese spy balloon shot down in February — after it had been allowed to cross the entire US and loiter near military bases — Biden claimed the balloon had carried “two box cars full” of surveillance gear, which presumably it had been using as it spent a week touring US communications facilities and strategic bases. He claimed the incident had been an embarrassment for Xi, because he hadn’t known it was there — and the words he used in that claim are threatening to spark a diplomatic incident.
Biden told his audience that it’s “a great embarrassment for dictators” when they don’t know what’s happening; clearly, Xi was the dictator he meant. Biden’s comments haven’t gone down well in Beijing. The next day, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called the speech “a blatant political provocation” and claimed the president’s words “go totally against facts” and harm “China’s political dignity.”
Xi, who has never been elected by the Chinese people, has launched ferocious crackdowns on pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong and stepped up persecution of the Falun Gong religious group. He’s orchestrating what human rights groups and several Western governments are calling a genocide against his country’s Uyghur minority. He’s using his military to intimidate neighboring Taiwan and build military bases on disputed islands in the South China Sea.
In the past, Biden has defended Xi, saying the reason for his iron grip on power is that “China has been victimized” when it isn’t united. Now, he seems to have forgotten that. He’s also forgotten that Xi gets touchy about being called a dictator — and probably wiped out any progress Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made when he met Xi the day before.
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