Joe Biden plays down the fact that he called Chinese President Xi a "dictator".

 

Joe Biden. Politico/AP.

Joe Biden has attempted to play down the fact that he called Chinese President Xi a "dictator". Politico. Biden made the remarks on Tuesday which infuriated China. Biden was talking about this springs balloon incident, saying that Xi didn't know about it, also adding that "dictators" don't like it when they don't know things. Biden said that he doubted the remarks would have any real consequence and that he was planning to meet with Xi soon. Biden's remarks angered China enough that they sent an official protest and summoned America's ambassador with China. 

My Comment:

This was a huge verbal gaffe by Joe Biden and the fact that the news is still covering it two days after it happened is a big deal. It was not the right thing to say and he did it at one of the worst possible times. 

Is Joe Biden right? Is President Xi a dictator? Not really. China is a communist country but I don't think they really count as a dictatorship. In theory Xi could be removed by his party which isn't something you could say about someone like Kim Jong Un in North Korea, who is indeed a dictator. China isn't really a free country, but people are allowed to vote and could in theory change their system. I've been and will continue to be extremely critical of China and its communist government but I don't know if I would ever describe it as a dictatorship or Xi as a dictator. 

And it's not like Biden has any room to criticize anyone. He may call people like Xi and Putin dictators, but I really don't see any difference between them and him. Biden arrests his political opponents, is trying to roll back the rights of Americans and took office under extremely questionable circumstances to say the least. 

But regardless of it being true it was an idiotic thing to say. There is some important context that the Politico article didn't mention and it's the fact that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was just in China. That meeting was designed to try and improve relations with China and it was mostly a failure. But the little diplomatic accomplishments that were gained there were immediately ruined by Biden's remarks. 

Can you imagine what Blinken was thinking? He worked hard to get anything from the Chinese at all and then Biden goes and calls Xi a dictator, ruining anything and everything he accomplished. It I didn't think Blinken deserved it I would almost feel bad for him. 

If there is any possible out for Biden here it's the fact that China knows Biden is senile and not really in control of what he says anymore. China is too polite to mention the fact that Biden is senile but they certainly know it. They might forgive Biden for that.

Regardless, it just shows how different and ineffective Biden is at foreign policy than Donald Trump was. Trump would insult countries leaders in public but would then say nice things about them once it was clear that diplomacy could take place. Biden is doing the opposite, trying diplomacy and then undermining it for no real reason. 

Normally this would be nothing but a funny footnote of Biden's terrible presidency. But we can't really afford bad relations with China anymore. We aren't prepared for a war with them at all, and given how much they want Taiwan and how bad relations are with them it's possible we might see that war long before we are ready for it. And since we have given up much of our weapons reserves to Ukraine it might be a massive mistake...