Embarrassment for dictators: Biden risks spoiling relations with China once again

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has expressed a strong protest to Washington in connection with the recent statement by U.S. President Joe Biden regarding Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Yesterday, Biden said that Xi did not have all the information about the incident with the balloon earlier this year, adding that this was "a great embarrassment for dictators."

"The U.S. remarks are extremely absurd, extremely irresponsible, contradict the facts, seriously violate diplomatic etiquette, are a serious infringement on China's political dignity and an open political provocation," the ministry's spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Biden's comments came just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing to stabilize bilateral relations that China says are at their lowest point since formal ties were established.