Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to grimace and shake his head when President Biden referred to China’s President Xi Jinping as a “dictator” on Wednesday, potentially upending months of tireless diplomacy for rebuild relations between the two countries.
Blinken, 61, physically backed away and appeared to shake his head and move his hands when Biden said Xi “is a dictator in the sense that he is the guy who runs a country that is a communist country… based on a form of government different”. than ours” in a solo press conference.
The indelicate comment came shortly after Biden, 80, met with Xi for four hours in San Francisco ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, which marked the two’s first in-person meeting. leaders in one year.
Former Italian diplomat Marco Carnelos turned to X to denounce Blinken’s “desperate body language” in response to Biden’s statement.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat front row at Biden’s press conference on Wednesday.AP
“Twelve months of hard work and diplomacy thrown away with a simple word. WTF,” she wrote, followed by the face palm emoji.
“Watch Tony Blinken’s body language when Biden says he thinks Xi is a dictator.” NBC News’ Ginger Gibson weighed in. “It’s like you can hear him holding your breath.”
The conservative media outlet Citizen Free Press added that “it seemed like Blinken wanted to dig himself into a hole when Biden said Xi is a dictator.”
Biden and Xi met for the first time in a year in San Francisco on Wednesday.REUTERS
Blinken is still cleaning up the fallout from when Biden referred to Xi as a dictator in June, prompting a harsh response from the Chinese government.
The United States and China have been slowly rebuilding their relations since the fallout from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022 and the controversy over the alleged Chinese spy balloon in February.
Biden spoke mostly positively about the meeting with Xi on Wednesday, telling reporters that the Chinese president agreed to reduce the export of deadly fentanyl-related pills and compounds.
Blinken seemed uncomfortable with Biden’s comment.AP
The summit also resulted in China and the United States agreeing to resume military-to-military communications, although Xi, 70, warned Biden that the United States “turning our backs” on China “is not an option.”
The US State Department did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn