WOODSIDE, Calif. — President Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping “a dictator” Wednesday after meeting with Xi for about four hours near San Francisco — after Xi warned Biden that the U.S. is “turning [its] back” in China is “not an option.”
“Well, look, he’s – I mean, he’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a person who runs a country that’s a communist country that’s based on a different form of government than ours,” Biden said at a press conference.
The 80-year-old president previously angered the Chinese government by referring to Xi as a “dictator” at a fundraiser in June – with Beijing summoning the US ambassador for reprimand.
It is unclear how Biden’s use of the term could affect the ongoing annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco, which the two leaders are expected to attend.
President Biden met Xi Jinping in California on Wednesday.Xinhua/Shutterstock
Biden made the comments as he left a news conference, where he gave a generally positive reading of his meeting with Xi – saying the Chinese autocrat agreed to block exports of pill-pressors and fentanyl-related compounds, which have killed about 200,000 Americans since Biden took office.
“In 2019, you may remember, China took action to reduce the amount of fentanyl sent directly from China to the United States. But in the years since then, the challenge has grown,” Biden said.
“Today, there is no understanding. We are taking action to significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals and pill suppressors from China to the Western Hemisphere. It will save lives and I appreciate President Xi’s commitment to this issue.”
However, enforcement of the fentanyl pledge remains uncertain and a senior Biden administration official told reporters, “In many respects, the proof is in the pudding here.”
Arguably the most concrete outcome of the summit was an agreement to resume military-to-military communications, largely seen in defense circles as a basic achievement of necessity rather than a ground-breaking historic achievement.
Chinese and American naval ships will now be allowed to talk to each other, but such exchanges with other ships are very common – and necessary – to avoid collisions or conflicts at sea.
Biden again referred to Xi as a “dictator” after meeting with him.AP
However, the agreement is important to avoid conflict. Given the current climate between the US and China, military communication allows for the reduction of tensions at this time and avoids miscalculations that could turn into World War III.
Deconfliction-through-communication is what Biden aims to use in the Xi summit, where he said the two presidents were “just being honest with each other so there’s no misunderstanding.”
One obvious flashpoint in the talks was Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island that Biden last year said the US military would defend against invasion from mainland China.
“I think President Xi is clarifying the ongoing concern, underlining that this is the biggest and most dangerous issue in the US-China relationship. [and] made it clear to us that their priority was for peaceful reunification, but then moved immediately to the condition that the potential use of force could be used,” a senior administration official told reporters.
“I think President Biden responded very clearly that the old position of the United States is a determination to maintain peace and stability. That we believe in the status quo. And we ask the Chinese to respect the election process in Taiwan.”
“President Xi responded, ‘Look, peace is all well and good, but at some point we have to move toward a more general solution,'” the official added.
Deconflict-through-communication is what Biden aims to use with the summit.Xinhua/Shutterstock
“President Xi basically said, ‘Look, I’m hearing all these reports in the United States of how we’re planning for you know, military action in 2027 or 2035. And there seemed to be some annoyance in those comments. And basically said there is no such plan, no one is talking to me about this.’”
Biden himself was coy about the Taiwan discussion when asked at a press conference, replying that he emphasized US support for the “One China” policy.
Ahead of Biden’s press conference, Republican critics blasted him for not getting more than Xi.
Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “The president has once again undermined US national security interests and significantly narrowed the space for bipartisan cooperation in China. China is no ordinary country – it is an aggressor.”
“Biden capitulated to Xi in exchange for a series of meaningless working groups and engagement mechanisms,” Risch said.
“The United States has continued such engagement before and for too long and at too great a cost. They constrain American policy in the Pacific and undermine our ability to support our allies. In the past, in an effort to appease China, the administration has slowed aid to Taiwan and sacrificed the interests of our allies in the region.”
Some Republican critics blasted Biden for not leveraging Xi.AFP via Getty Images
Meanwhile, House Republicans are investigating as part of a broader impeachment inquiry into Biden’s ties to a pair of business ventures with Chinese state-backed companies that netted eldest son Hunter Biden and first cousin James Biden millions of dollars.
Biden interacts with his brother’s partner in both Chinese business relationships.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told The Post last week that he believed Biden was “soft” on China and that “it might have something to do with the business relationship and it might involve Hunter and James Biden and some of the deals they made there .”
Former President Donald Trump, who is seeking a rematch against Biden in next year’s election, claimed in an August video that Biden was “surprised by China because they know how much money is given to him and they know where it is.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
