Beijing (EFE).- “Extremely irresponsible” and “a political provocation.”
This is how China has described today criticized the words of US President Joe Biden, in which he called his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, a “dictator”.
“Those comments are absurd and completely irresponsible. They violate the facts, diplomatic protocol and the political dignity of China. It is a political provocation, carried out in a public way,” said Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning at a press conference today.
“China is strongly dissatisfied with and strongly opposes these words,” the spokeswoman added.
China will not be “a lamb”
According to Mao, “China’s voice is being heard more and more every day” and Beijing “will not be a lamb before hostile forces that try to denigrate China”, but “will fight to safeguard its interests, image and dignity”.
Biden referred to his Chinese counterpart as a “dictator” on Tuesday during an event in Kentfield, California to raise funds for his re-election campaign.
By calling Xi a “dictator”, the US president was talking about the incident with the alleged Chinese spy balloon that Washington shot down last February after being detected flying over US soil.
According to Biden, the Chinese president felt “embarrassed” by the episode since he “did not know that (the balloon) was there.”
“That is the great shame of dictators, when they do not know that something has happened,” he added.
It so happens that the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, had concluded a two-day visit to China just one day before to “smooth things out” with Beijing, after a few months of disagreements