President Joe Biden denied that relations with Beijing have suffered a serious blow after the US downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew across the continental US.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden denied that relations with Beijing have suffered a serious blow after the US downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew across the continental US.
Biden said that the US is currently recovering “major pieces” of the aircraft to analyze the equipment. But he maintained that the incident hasn’t further exacerbated tensions with the country.
“No. No,” Biden told Judy Woodruff in an interview for PBS Newshour on Wednesday, when asked if ties between the world’s two largest economies had taken a “big hit.”
“Look, the idea shooting down a balloon that’s gathering information over America, and that makes relations worse? Look, I made it real clear to Xi Jinping that we’re going to compete fully with China but we’re not going looking for conflict. And that’s been the case so far,” Biden responded.
The president clarified that he has not spoken to the Chinese president since the incident.
“I talked to Xi Jinping before. And our team talks to their people,” Biden said.
In regards to the balloon, Biden said the US is “recovering major pieces of it to determine if we can learn anything from what they garnered and what kind of equipment they had.”
He then took a swipe at his predecessor, rival and potential 2024 opponent, former President Donald Trump, saying “there were several of these balloons that during the last administration they didn’t even know they were there. They did nothing about them.”
Biden in his State of the Union address on Tuesday didn’t mention the espionage episode specifically but referred to the events of last week as a threat to US sovereignty. He also called out Xi in the address, saying the Chinese leader’s position in the world is weaker and the US, along with other democracies, have grown stronger over the past two years.
“Name me a world leader who’d change places with Xi Jinping,” Biden shouted, departing from his prepared text Tuesday night as he waved a finger. “Name me one, name me one.”
Biden Taunts Xi Days After Shooting Down Chinese Balloon
The remarks were the most fiery reference to China in the speech, days after the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina following the airship’s flight across the country.
Biden has come under criticism from Republicans who said the delay in downing the aircraft showed weakness and put Americans at risk.
The president insisted there are areas where the US and China can work together and that he’d seek out those opportunities while defending America’s interests.
(Updates with US recovering pieces in second paragraph)
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