INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called Xi Jinping a dictator, a day after top US diplomat Antony Blinken visited Beijing to stabilize
bilateral relations that China says are at their lowest point since formal ties were established.Biden also said Xi was very embarrassed
when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was blown off course over US airspace early this year, making a personal comment on the Chinese leader
when Blinken said on Monday the &chapter& should be closed.It was unclear why Biden made the comments on Xi & China&s most powerful leader
since Mao Zedong after he secured a precedent-breaking third term as president and head of the Communist Party, Reuters reported.&The reason
why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn&t know it
was there,& Biden said at a fundraiser in California.&That&s a great embarrassment for dictators
When they didn&t know what happened
That wasn&t supposed to be going where it was
It was blown off course,& Biden added.Biden also said China &has real economic difficulties.&Xi, who met with Blinken on Monday, has not
publicly responded to Biden&s comments but they are unlikely to go down well in Beijing and could jeopardize efforts by both countries to
bring their relationship back to a more stable footing after the balloon incident.Blinken and Xi agreed in their meeting to stabilize the
intense rivalry between Washington and Beijing so it did not veer into conflict, but failed to produce any breakthrough during a rare visit
to China by the secretary of state.They did agree to continue diplomatic engagement with more visits by US officials in the coming weeks and
Biden said later on Tuesday that US climate envoy John Kerry may go to China soon.Biden said on Monday he thought relations between the two
countries were on the right path, and he indicated that progress was made during Blinken&s trip.The post Biden calls Chinese President Xi a
dictator first appeared on Ariana News.
