US President Joe Biden “is not looking for conflict” with China, as stated in an interview with American public media PBS following the fallout from the discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon flying into American territory.
The US president insisted that relations with Beijing had not been damaged. “I made it real clear to Xi Jinping that we’re going to compete fully with China, but we’re not looking for conflict. That’s been the case so far.”
Washington has been careful not to raise its voice after shooting down a Chinese balloon on Saturday, which American authorities say was intended to spy on sensitive military sites.
In front of Congress on Tuesday, however, Joe Biden assured: “If China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country.” The relationship between the two superpowers has grown tense in the aftermath.
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China strongly condemned the destruction of the balloon, which it said was a “civilian aircraft used for research purposes, mainly meteorological” that had “involuntarily” entered US airspace.
In this context, US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken cancelled a planned visit to China at the last minute.
The Pentagon also revealed on Tuesday that Beijing had rejected a US proposal on Saturday for a phone call between Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and his counterpart Wei Fenghe.
