During a television interview, the Head of State adopted a peaceful tone towards Beijing, denying that the Sino-American relationship had undergone “a hard blow”.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
US President Joe Biden said he “does not seek conflict” with China, according to extracts broadcast on Wednesday February 8 of an interview with the PBS channel, while the United States has just destroyed a Chinese ball that had flew over their territory.
“No”, the American president replied to the journalist who asked him if relations with Beijing had suffered “a blow”. “We are going to compete fully with China, but we are not looking for conflict”, he assured.
In general, Washington was careful not to set up after having shot down on Saturday a Chinese ball, intended according to the Americans to spy on sensitive military sites. During his speech on the state of the Union before the congress on Tuesday, Joe Biden assured, however, “If China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country.”
Trips
The relationship between the two superpowers has tense itself following this affair. China strongly condemned the destruction of the ball, according to it an “civil” aircraft used for research purposes, mainly meteorological “which had entered” involuntary “in American airspace.
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken in this context canceled at the last minute a visit planned in China.
The Pentagon also revealed Tuesday that Beijing refused the American proposal for a telephone call on Saturday between the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin and his counterpart Wei Fenghe.