As China hits back at 'ridiculous' Joe Biden comments on Xi Jinping, bilateral ties too feeble to weaken further, analysts say
South China Morning Post
5 min read
A war of words shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's crucial fence-mending visit to China is further proof of Washington's inability to "walk the talk", though it is hardly possible for bilateral ties to fall any lower, analysts said.
This came as US President Joe Biden took aim at Chinese President Xi Jinping, in bringing up the stand-off over an alleged Chinese "spy balloon" that had prompted Blinken to postpone his planned visit in February.
"The reason why [Chinese President] 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 - who is seeking re-election - told a fundraising event in California on Tuesday.
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"That's a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn't know what happened."
The US military shot down the balloon, which China said was a weather-monitoring vehicle caught up in a "force majeure accident", on February 4 - days after it had drifted into American airspace.
The Chinese foreign ministry hit back swiftly at Biden's remarks, calling them a "political provocation".
"The relevant remarks by the US side are extremely ridiculous and irresponsible, they seriously violate basic facts, diplomatic protocol and China's political dignity," ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
Biden's comments came just a day after Blinken's audience with Xi in Beijing, and the same day US channel MSNBC broadcast an interview with the top American diplomat, where he said "that [balloon] chapter should be closed" as long as the incident was not repeated.
It was not immediately clear if the latest exchange would compromise the prospects of a Biden-Xi meeting at the next Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in San Francisco this November.
However, analysts said Biden's remarks were unlikely to worsen the already poor bilateral relations, given China's low expectations for things to improve over the remainder of Biden's term.
According to Koh King Kee, founder and president of East West Bridge, an academic network of international relations scholars, little political trust remains between the two sides.
"Beijing has no fantasies about China-US relations under Biden, but is willing to keep channels of communication open and jointly build a 'guardrail' to avoid misjudgment by both sides that may end up in any untoward incidents," Koh said.
China's hopes for bilateral relations to improve over the next year were low, he added.
Biden's comments also contrasted sharply with Xi and Blinken's positive commitment to stabilising ties, which indicated a disconnect between the president and his administration, according to Koh.
"US officials, including the secretary of state, have often had to clarify Biden's off-the-cuff comments," Koh said, referring to a CBS interview in September where the US president vowed to send troops to defend Taiwan - statements that the White House later walked back.
According to Zoon Ahmed Khan, a foreign-policy analyst and research fellow at Tsinghua University's Belt and Road Strategy Institute, Beijing has long observed the mismatch between Washington's actions and its expressed willingness to cooperate.
"China realises that the US is not able to walk the talk, so, while it is an important economic partner, Beijing knows it is unrealistic to expect better rhetoric from the Biden administration," Khan said.
During his campaign trial in 2020, Biden had called Xi a "thug" and vowed to lead an international effort to "pressure, isolate and punish China".
"Closer to the election season, it is clear that the Biden administration is appeasing domestic voters and, to them, the current and immediate threat is China and its growing global influence," Khan said, adding that Biden risked losing domestic and international support if he was to soften or mellow out his anti-China rhetoric.
The current mood in the US requires Biden to amplify his hardline position against China, despite Beijing asking that Washington remain respectful in potential exchanges, Khan said.
"In practical terms, for the Biden administration to make it clear that they are willing to engage China is important for optics, but equally they have to show themselves in front of their allies as the leader of the 'free world'."
Dylan Loh, an assistant professor of foreign policy at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said Biden's remarks would not weaken the already-feeble bilateral relations.
"The US president has a tendency to go off the cuff and off the script so this can be seen in that context," Loh said.
Such "stop-start, forward-backward" style of engagement between the rival powers will become routine, he added.
Xi and Biden's meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali last November yielded positive results, including the prospect of Blinken visiting China, the first such trip by a US secretary of state in almost five years. However, US arms sales to Taiwan a month later reignited tensions before Biden postponed his visit following the balloon incident.
