Biden Keeps Trying to Have It Both Ways on China Policy

Taking a gratuitous shot at your counterpart in public isn’t the sort of thing that is likely to produce a more stable relationship.

The president says he wants to put the balloon incident behind him, but then stirred up a new controversy by taking a parting shot at Xi:

"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," Mr Biden said at the event on Tuesday.

"That's a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn't know what happened," he added.

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese government protested Biden’s remarks. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, “It is against the basic facts and diplomatic protocols, seriously violates China’s political dignity and amounts to public political provocation.” Whatever else one wants to say about it, taking a gratuitous shot at your counterpart in public isn’t the sort of thing that is likely to produce a more stable relationship.