China on Wednesday accused Joe Biden of “saying one thing and doing another” in a direct rebuke of the US president’s decision to shoot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon this month.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have further soured since Biden ordered the military to take down the inflatable, which the United States claims was surveilling American territory.
Chinese officials have vociferously denied the accusation, insisting the device was a wayward weather observation aircraft with no military purpose.
The incident has sparked a diplomatic spat, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying in a tweet Sunday that he had “condemned the incursion” in a meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi.
Asked about the tweet by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry said Blinken had “uttered wild words and confused black with white”.
The shootdown was “100 percent abuse of military force, 100 percent overreaction, 100 percent hysteria”, spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press conference.
He accused Washington of “fabricating a narrative”.
Biden “has repeatedly vowed publicly that he does not seek a new Cold War and has no intention of conflict with China“, the spokesman said.
“We hope that he, as the leader of a major power, can keep his word and practise what he preaches, instead of saying one thing and doing another.”
