President Biden pleaded for a nap during a 26-minute international press conference in Vietnam on Sunday that ended his tour of Asia.
“I tell you what, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to bed,” Biden, 80, joked during a rambling riff in response to a question about why he hasn’t spoken to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The president was in Hanoi following a multi-day Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, India, where he basked in the absence of Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I will only follow my orders here. Staff, is there anyone who hasn’t spoken yet? I didn’t call you,” Biden said at one point during Sunday’s presser.
Biden dusted off some of his favorite one-liners and occasionally appeared to create new ones as he fielded a barrage of questions from reporters.
“The Indian looked at John Wayne and pointed at the Union soldier and said, ‘He’s a lying, dog-faced horse soldier!'” Biden said in response to a question about climate change.
President Joe Biden speaks at a press conference, in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sept. 10. AP/ Evan Vucci
“Well, there are a lot of lying, dog-faced horse soldiers out there about global warming,” he added.
Biden was also prepared for some innuendo from reporters.
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope you didn’t think that just calling women would get you to play softball tonight,” Voice of America reporter Anita Powell said at one point.
“If you sent me a softball, I don’t know what to do with it, I’d probably hit it worse,” Biden joked in response.
The president also contextualized the geopolitical nuances of his trip to Asia, namely the relationship with China, which looms large even in Xi’s absence.
“What this trip is all about — it’s more or less about containing China. I don’t want to contain China,” Biden said. “I just want to make sure we have a growing, side-by-side relationship with China.”
“I’m telling you, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to sleep,” Biden, 80, joked during a rambling riff in response to a question. AFP via Getty Images/ Saul Loeb
Xi is believed to have skipped the G20 summit because of strained relations with host country India.
He sent Chinese Premier Li Qiang there on his behalf.
Biden postulated during a press conference that China’s currently tanking economy would weaken the prospect of a Taiwan invasion.
Many experts fear, however, that the state of China’s economy will fuel despair in Beijing and increase the possibility of aggression.
“I think China has a difficult economic problem right now for a variety of reasons related to international growth and the lack of it and the policies that China has followed,” Biden told reporters.
“I don’t think it will cause China to attack Taiwan; in fact, on the contrary. It may not have the same capacity as before.”
Biden was pleased with the absence of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.AP/ Luong Thai Linh
At the end of the press conference, Biden was cut off mid-sentence by an aide who said the press conference was over.
Following his stop in Hanoi to strengthen ties with the leader of Vietnam, widely seen as a strategically important ally in the Asia Pacific, Biden is expected to depart for Alaska, where he will mark the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
