China today criticized the words of US President Joe Biden, who called his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping a “dictator”, considering them “extremely irresponsible” and “a political provocation”.
“These comments are absurd and completely irresponsible. They violate the facts, diplomatic protocol and China’s political dignity. It is a political provocation, made publicly,” Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference today.
“China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes these words,” the spokeswoman added.
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”, Biden was talking about the incident with the alleged Chinese spy balloon that Washington shot down last February after it was detected flying over US soil.
According to the US president, Xi 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.