My Take | Talking off the cuff for ageing Biden is getting too dangerous for the world
- While it’s unclear whether he meant to sound tough by comparing his Chinese counterpart to ‘dictators’ or it was another of his now-routine gaffes, the US president’s foggy mind and unsteady feet mean retirement is a more humane option than running for a second term
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had barely left Beijing apparently with good feelings on both sides when his boss Joe Biden decided to call his Chinese counterpart a dictator.
Worse, the US president insinuated that Xi Jinping was deeply embarrassed because the latter wasn’t informed about the Chinese “spy” balloon. It’s hard to know what Biden meant as the balloon incident was covered 24/7 at the time by the international news media. You really had to live in a cave not to know.
The foreign ministry has understandably slammed the comments as an “open political provocation” and probably considered it typical of Washington – talk nicely then act aggressively. Now I am not ruling out that Biden said it deliberately because he needs to look “tough on China” as the new election cycle starts in the United States.
But I think the Chinese side, at least in this instance, can afford to have a sense of humour and some compassion.
Biden was probably projecting as the octogenarian president who often has no idea what he is talking about these days, from calling out for late congresswoman Jackie Walorski – to identify herself in a crowd – to citing a new railway project to span the entire Indian Ocean, the world’s third largest body of water. No such plan is believed to be on the cards for the US, or any other country.