Biden reminisces about vacation with Xi Jinping following China mocks him

President Biden on Friday reminisced about his travels with Chinese President Xi Jinping just after diplomats representing Xi at a summit conference in Alaska delivered an anti-American diatribe and mocked Biden’s regular declare to method China from a “position of energy.”

Biden did not admit the shockingly harsh Chinese attack and instead launched into reflections on his relationship with Xi throughout a vacation to Atlanta.

“I was with Xi Jinping of China, invested more time with him I’m explained to than any world leader for the reason that he was vice president, I was vice president. His president and mine wanted us to get to know 1 one more for the reason that it was apparent he was heading to become president,” Biden informed personnel at the Centers for Illness Handle and Avoidance.

“I spent, traveled 17,000 miles with him in China and the United States and Asia normally, and met with him I guess they explain to me 24-25 hrs on your own, just me and an interpreter and he and an interpreter.”

He joked: “And by the way, I handed in all my notes.”

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at the Beijing Hotel in Beijing, China in 2011.
Then-Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at the Beijing Resort in 2011.
Lintao Zhang, File-Pool/AP

Biden concluded with a story he frequently tells: “But all kidding apart, he asked me appropriate on the Tibetan Plateau, he requested me, he reported to me, ‘Can you determine The united states for me?’ I reported, ‘Yeah, 1 word. And I signify it. Just one word: possibilities’,” Biden mentioned.

The president has not publicly acknowledged the withering verbal assault on his Secretary of Point out Tony Blinken and White Household countrywide safety adviser Jake Sullivan, who did not walk out of the talks in Anchorage in reaction to the sharp text.

As he remaining the White Home for the journey to Ga on Friday, Biden reported he was “very proud” of Blinken.

In this Sept. 24, 2015, file photo Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vice President Joe Biden walk down the red carpet on the tarmac during an arrival ceremony in Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
President Xi Jinping and VP Joe Biden at an arrival ceremony at Andrews Air Drive Base in 2015.
Carolyn Kaster/AP

The Chinese diplomats publicly accused the US of hypocrisy on human rights, democratic values and cyber warfare.

Aboard Air Force 1, White Dwelling deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed the struggle session, stating the Biden administration thinks it was meant for a domestic Chinese audience.

“The United States delegation arrived to Anchorage fully commited to laying out the rules, passions and values that animate our engagement with Beijing realizing that exaggerated diplomatic presentations often are aimed at a domestic audience,” Jean-Pierre said.

Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi said at the Thursday opening of the discussion board, “The United States does not have the qualification to say that it wishes to talk to China from a situation of toughness,” straight knocking Biden’s statements.

Xi Jinping shakes hands with Joe Biden inside the Great Hall of the People in 2013.
Xi Jinping shakes palms with Joe Biden inside the Excellent Hall of the People today in 2013.
Lintao Zhang/Getty Pictures

“Many people inside of the United States in fact have minor assurance in the democracy of the United States,” extra Chinese Overseas Minister Wang Yi.

“We imagine that it is critical for the United States to modify its very own picture and to end advancing its individual democracy in the rest of the world.”

Yang chided what he explained as US hypocrisy on human rights and accused the US of getting a “champion” of cyberattacks. He invoked the Black Life Make a difference motion and claimed “the challenges going through the United States in human legal rights are deep-seated.”

The US group appeared unprepared for the verbal assault.

Xi Jinping listens as Joe Biden speaks during the U.S.-China Business Roundtable at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington in 2012.
Xi Jinping listens as Joe Biden speaks during the US-China Business Roundtable at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington in 2012.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures

Blinken explained the US was “not perfect” but that “what we’ve finished all over our historical past is to confront all those worries openly, publicly, transparently, not attempting to ignore them.”

US-China relations plunged last year in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then-President Donald Trump authorized sanctions against Chinese officials for reducing Hong Kong’s political autonomy and for mistreating Uyghur Muslims. He vowed to “decouple” the US and China economically in reaction to deception in early data on COVID-19.

Trump claimed for the duration of the presidential campaign final 12 months that China would “own” the US if Biden won, in section mainly because of his son Hunter Biden’s enterprise dealings in China. As of final month, the 1st son nevertheless owned 10 per cent of an expenditure fund controlled by Chinese point out-owned entities. The fund was formed 12 days soon after Hunter Biden joined his father aboard Air Force Two for a December 2013 journey to Beijing.

Xi Jinping shows Joe Biden a chocolate-covered macadamia nut given to him by Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie at the start of a meeting of Chinese and American governors in Feb. 2012.
Xi Jinping shows Joe Biden a chocolate-included macadamia nut given to him by then-Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie at the start of a conference of Chinese and American governors in 2012.
Jay L. Clendenin-Pool/Getty Imag

A 2017 e mail recovered from a tricky push belonging to Hunter Biden explained a 10 % established-aside for “the big guy” as element of a future offer involving China’s major non-public power organization. That offer did not materialize, but former Hunter Biden small business partner Tony Bobulinski named the elder Biden as remaining the “big guy.”