Blinken defends Biden calling Xi Jinping a dictator

Secretary of State Antony Blinken stood by President Biden’s off-the-cuff jab calling Chinese leader Xi Jinping a dictator.

“The president speaks clearly, he speaks candidly. I’ve worked with him for more than 20 years and he speaks for all of us,” Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Biden roiled Beijing last week — roughly two days after Blinken’s state visit — by dubbing Xi a dictator during remarks Tuesday at a campaign fundraiser in California.

“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,” Biden said, according to a White House transcript.

“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators.”

It was that same balloon debacle that prompted Blinken to postpone initial plans to visit China in February.

China issued a diplomatic admonishment in response to Biden’s remark, something the president shrugged off as “hysteria.”

Blinken emphasized “we are going to do and say things that they don’t like” and vice versa.

“There’s no secret about about those differences. There’s no secret about concerns we have about democracy, about human rights, about some of the actions that China is taking around the world,” Blinken said.

“The purpose of the trip at the president’s instruction was trying to try to bring a little bit more stability to the relationship, to demonstrate that we’re committed to managing it responsibly, which really is an obligation for us,” he added.

He further stressed that robust communication between the two superpowers is needed to avert “misunderstandings” and “miscalculations.”

One recent diplomatic flare-up has been reports Cuba has given China the go-ahead to build a joint military training facility on the island, which is about 100 miles from US shores.

The Biden administration has acknowledged the government was privy to Chinese spy operations targeting the US for years.

But Blinken was evasive when pressed about what measures the US will take to prevent China from establishing the facility.

“We have been not only looking but also engaging in a number of countries over the last couple of years where China’s trying to get a foothold,” Blinken told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

He noted the US has “raised this issue” with Cuban officials.

Blinken previously said he “made very clear” during his trip to China that the Washington “would have deep concerns” about an expanded presence in Cuba.

His visit to China began June 17 and spanned two days. It was the first US Secretary of State visit to China since 2018.