The head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, explained on Thursday that China should expect frank statements, which are likely to upset it, from Washington, after US President Joe Biden called his counterpart Xi Jinping a “dictator” shortly after the conclusion of the summit between the two leaders, triggering once again China’s strong reaction.
Mr. Blinken, known for being generally careful in his wording and displaying a high degree of self-control, he was seen in the footage grimacing invisibly when Mr. Biden used the specific designation, during the press conference organized yesterday Wednesday after the meeting, on the sidelines of APEC, near San Francisco.
Asked specifically about that word choice, the secretary of state, a decades-long adviser to Joe Biden, embraced the head of state’s statement.
“The president always speaks boldly and speaks for all of us,” Mr. Blinken told CBS News.
“It’s clear that we’re going to continue to say things and do things that China doesn’t like, just as I assume China will continue to say and do things that we don’t like,” he added.
Mr Blinken visited China in June, launching a series of high-level contacts aimed at de-escalating tensions between the two superpowers, AFP reported and the Athens News Agency reported.
During this trip, he had been received by President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
The next day, Mr. Biden called the Chinese leader a “dictator” during a campaign fundraiser in California.
The characterization had sparked outrage in Beijing.
Last Wednesday, a journalist asked him if he maintains this view. “He is a dictator in the sense that he rules a country, a communist country, where the form of government is completely different from ours,” the octogenarian Democratic president replied.
It was expected the new condemnation of the statement from Beijing.
“This kind of political discourse is extremely wrong and constitutes irresponsible political manipulation. China categorically opposes it,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said during the accredited editors’ briefing.
Source: News Beast
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