Biden has ‘Big mouth,’ China charges
With his son planning to plead guilty to federal tax crimes, an impending forced House vote to impeach him, his poll numbers plummeting, and now news that he’s called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a dictator—President Biden has more than a toxic mix of problems on his agenda.
Then again, Hunter Biden, his youngest son (Beau died in 2015) has cut a deal to avoid prison; the impeachment charge is practically dead on arrival in the House; and Biden’s poll numbers are—like most poll numbers—uncertain at this time. Of most immediate concern is his charge that Jinping is a dictator, particularly while Secretary of State Antony Blinden has made overtures to bring about calm between the two nations.
Biden asserted in remarks Tuesday evening in California, in connection with the supposed spy balloon that the U.S. shot down, “The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when [we] shot that balloon down with two boxcars full of spy equipment is he didn’t know it was there. That was a great embarrassment for dictators—when they didn’t know what happened.”
The balloon was flying across the U.S. and was shot down off the coast of the Carolinas. “It was blown off course, up through Alaska and then down through the United States, and [Jinping] didn’t know about it,” Biden said.
The president’s comments, as expected, have ruffled the Chinese government and they responded quickly. Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, called the remarks “extremely absurd and irresponsible. They’re an open political provocation.” Moreover, she said, the balloon was unintended and caused by circumstances beyond China’s control.
Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, had a stronger reaction. “Biden’s big mouth is a loose cannon,” he said. “Mutual trust is what China has been stressing, so Biden’s comments are very destructive and damaging.”
The comments also contradict Blinken’s recent mission. How they will add to the brewing tumult during the 2024 presidential elections is left for debate.
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