A couple of weeks after comparing Xi Jinping to ‘dictators’, US President Joe Biden has revealed that he warned the Chinese president of getting too close with Russia. In an interview with CNN, Biden said that he told Xi following his meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin that Beijing needs to “be careful” as it relies on Western investment.
“I said: This is not a threat. This is an observation. Since Russia went into Ukraine, 600 American corporations have pulled out of Russia,” said Biden.
Quizzed what Xi said in response to the veiled threat, Biden said: “He listened, and he didn’t…argue. And if you notice, he has not gone full-bore in on Russia. So, I think there’s a way we can work through this.”
Notably, it was in March earlier this year that Xi and Putin met each other when the former visited Moscow on a two-day trip. The two talked about close bilateral cooperation while criticising the West for prolonging the war in Ukraine.
Biden’s statement comes at a time when US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is currently in Beijing on a four-day trip to seemingly repair the broken ties. During one of her addresses in China, Yellen said complete decoupling of the US and Chinese economies was “impossible”.
“We seek to diversify, not to decouple. A decoupling of the world’s two largest economies would be destabilising for the global economy,” Yellen told representatives of US businesses at a session hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.
“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,” said Biden.
“The remarks seriously contradict basic facts, seriously violate diplomatic etiquette, and seriously infringe on China’s political dignity,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
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