Kremlin on Biden's Xi Comment: US Pursuing Controversial, Unpredictable Policy

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov weighed in Wednesday on US President Joe Biden’s recent comments about Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying that the United States was pursuing a controversial and unpredictable policy, but this is Washington's business.

During his address to his supporters in California on Tuesday, the US president said that Xi did not have all the information about the incident with the balloon earlier this year, adding that this was "a great embarrassment for dictators."

"This is a very contradictory manifestation of US foreign policy, which speaks of a large element of unpredictability on the one hand, and on the other hand, the continuation of such mentoring manifestations of the US foreign policy that have become unacceptable for a huge number of states and the number of these states is constantly growing," Peskov told reporters, noting that this is the US's business.

Earlier in the day, Beijing firmly protested to Washington about the recent statement by Joe Biden.

"China expresses acute discontent and strong protest," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters, noting that Biden's remarks are "extremely absurd, extremely irresponsible, contradict the facts, seriously violate diplomatic etiquette, [and] are a serious infringement on China's political dignity and an open political provocation."

What Did Biden Say?

"The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn't know it was there. I am serious, that was a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn't know what happened," Biden said at a fundraising event in California on Tuesday.

The US leader added that the balloon was blown off course and Xi was very upset and even denied that the balloon was over the US territory.

The creation of QUAD, an alliance of Australia, India, Japan and the United States, was another great disappointment for Xi, Biden said.

"He called me and told me not to do that," Biden said.

Additionally, the US president said that when speaking to the Chinese leader over the phone, Xi urged him not to worry too much about China, as the country has "real economic difficulties."

In February, the United States detected and later shot down four unidentified flying objects, including a Chinese surveillance balloon. Washington alleged that it was designed to gather intelligence about sensitive military sites in the country. Beijing insisted that the balloon was a mere meteorological device that entered the US airspace accidentally while expressing protest over Pentagon's decision to shoot it down.