A day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Beijing with a a joint commitment to ease tensions with China, his own boss undercut him with an off-the-cuff remark likening Xi Jinping to a “dictator.”
(Bloomberg) — A day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Beijing with a a joint commitment to ease tensions with China, his own boss undercut him with an off-the-cuff remark likening Xi Jinping to a “dictator.”
President Joe Biden made the comment during an extended riff at a fundraiser where he said Xi “got very upset” when the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February because “he didn’t know it was there.”
“No, I’m serious,” he said. “That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened.”
As far as insults go, Biden’s hit a trifecta of Chinese sensitivities. He questioned President Xi’s control over his country and military. The dictator remark was the sort of jibe that may sound like nothing more than a schoolyard taunt but suggests Xi doesn’t have legitimacy or the support of his own people. Biden also raised doubts about the health of China’s economy. China responded by calling it a “provocation.”
The remarks may not have set off a new crisis. But they risked wiping away the symbolic progress from talks that both sides had described the previous day as candid and constructive. Blinken had only just managed to get through the trip without any unscripted friction from the numerous areas where the two sides disagree.
“The fact that Biden called Xi a dictator so soon after the Blinken visit will not go down well in Beijing,” said Dennis Wilder, former deputy assistant director for East Asia and the Pacific at the Central Intelligence Agency. “Biden needs to be told that Xi does not take personal slights well.”
Blinken’s China Trip Yields Best Possible Result: More Talks
The back-and-forth underscored how, for all their pledges to get back to regular order, the world’s two largest economies seemingly can’t resist falling back into spats and petty insults. That will be frustrating to countries that don’t want to choose sides — such as Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam — and just want the US and China to get along.
Asked Wednesday about Biden’s comments, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said there was no need to walk them back.
“The president believes that diplomacy, including this recent trip undertaken by the secretary is a responsible way to manage tensions,” Patel said. “I don’t think that the president’s comments need to be clarified any further or to be interpreted any further.”
Shortly after Blinken wrapped up his trip to China, the official Xinhua news agency issued an English-language commentary with a set of “three reminders for Washington to bear in mind on ties with China,” outlining how Beijing expects to be treated. It urged the US to treat China with respect and not meddle in the country’s internal affairs.
Within hours, Biden had done exactly that.
Read more: Kissinger Sees War Over Taiwan Likely Unless US, China Back Down
It was especially jarring because Biden puts so much stock in his skill at personal diplomacy. He’s pressing China for a meeting with Xi, something China has so far resisted. He’ll get at least two chances — once at a Group of 20 meeting in India in September and again at an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco in November.
While the two sides trade barbs, issues of real importance haven’t been addressed. The US is still mulling an executive order that would put new limits on outbound investment to China. Further export controls on Huawei Technologies Co. and other companies are expected soon. The US is also worried about a Chinese push to expand its intelligence-gathering in the Western Hemisphere, including from Cuba, just 100 miles (161 kilometers) off Florida.
It isn’t the first time a seemingly unscripted Biden comment has complicated Washington’s relationship with Beijing. Biden’s aides have needed to clarify the president’s remarks on Taiwan on at least four occasions in recent years.
“The visit was a first step toward stabilizing the relationship,” Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the US, said of Blinken’s trip. “Limited but important progress was made, but persisting high levels of distrust and conflicting interests on various issues will pose challenges.”
–With assistance from Courtney McBride and Jenny Leonard.
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