Antony Blinken flinches as Joe Biden calls China’s Xi Jinping ‘dictator’ | Watch video
Anthony Blinken, 61, grimaced and fiddled with his hands after President Joe Biden called China's Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ at a press conference
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, was spotted flinching in apparent disapproval when United States President Biden called China’s President Xi Jinping a “dictator”. The video of Joe Biden calling Xi Jinping a “dictator” surfaced a day after Joe Biden met his Chinese counterpart Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Anthony Blinken, 61, visibly grimaced and was seen fiddling with his hands when Joe Biden said Xi “is a dictator in the sense that he is the guy who runs the country that is a communist country … based on a form of government different than ours” at a press conference.
Joe Biden's remark came shortly after he met Xi Jinping for four hours in San Francisco before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference. The conference marked the two leaders’ first in-person meeting in a year.
Also Read | ‘Irresponsible political manipulation’: China fumes as Biden doubles down on ‘dictator’ tag for Xi Jinping
While President Xi Jinping, after his meeting with Biden, said China intends to be friends with the US and said his nation would not fight a war with anyone, one of his strongest remarks yet expressing his wish for harmonious relations between the world’s two largest economies, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Former Italian diplomat Marco Carnelos in a post on social media platform X called out Anthony Blinken’s “desperate body language” in response to Joe Biden’s statement.
“Twelve months of hard work & diplomacy thrown in the toilet with a simple word…,” he wrote.
In June, Joe Biden had referred to Xi Jinping as a dictator, prompting an angry response from Beijing. Anthony Blinken is still dealing with the fallout.
Since Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August 2022 and the controversy over the alleged Chinese spy balloon in February 2023, US-China relations have been slowly rebuilding.
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Business NewsNewsWorldAntony Blinken flinches as Joe Biden calls China’s Xi Jinping ‘dictator’ | Watch video
First Published:17 Nov 2023, 12:18 PM IST
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