Over the past weekend President Biden discussed the Chinese spy balloon that captured our attention earlier this year. “I don’t think the leadership knew where it was, and knew what was in it, and knew what was going on,” Biden told reporters as he headed to Philadelphia for his first campaign rally of the 2024 election. “I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional.” I attributed Biden’s description of Xi’s alleged ignorance and embarrassment to projection.
Yesterday Biden expanded on his comments at a private campaign reception in Marin County, California:
[T]hings are changing. We put together in Southeast Asia — and, by the way, I promise you we’re going to — don’t worry about China. I mean, worry about China, but don’t worry about China. (Laughter.)
No, but I really mean it. China is real — has real economic difficulties. And the reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two boxcars full of spy equipment in it is he didn’t know it was there. No, I’m serious. That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened. That wasn’t supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course up through Alaska and then down through the United States. And he didn’t know about it. When it got shot down, he was very embarrassed. He denied it was even there.
The White House has posted the transcript of Biden’s remarks at the reception here. The Wall Street Journal devotes an editorial to the comments above here.
President Xi does not like being called a “dictator” and I do believe he has multifarious means of expressing his disapproval at his disposal. The CCP regime goes out of its way to show its disrespect of Biden. “Contempt” is probably more like it. Keep an eye out for possible Xi rejoinders.
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