Biden says the ‘silly balloon’ was responsible for deflating the US’s relationship with China – but predicted there would be a ‘thaw’ soon
- President Joe Biden blamed the spy balloon incident on deflating relations with China
- At his press conference in Hiroshima, Biden said ‘this silly balloon’ got shot down and ‘everything changed in terms of talking to one another’
- He added, ‘I think you’re going to see that begin to thaw really shortly’
President Joe Biden blamed the spy balloon incident on deflating relations with China, but predicted they would be better soon during his press conference Sunday night in Hiroshima.
The president agreed that the U.S. and China should have an ‘open hotline’ adding that was something he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on during their meeting last fall in Bali.
‘And then this silly balloon carrying two freight cars worth of spy equipment flew over the United States and it got shot down and everything changed in terms of talking to one another,’ Biden told reporters.
He added, ‘I think you’re going to see that begin to thaw really shortly.’
Biden also explained in simple terms the G7 countries’ view on China: ‘We’re not looking to decouple from China. We’re looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China,’ he said.
President Joe Biden blamed the spy balloon incident on deflating relations with China, but predicted they would be better soon during his press conference Sunday night in Hiroshima

A U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the United States on February 3
He talked of this in terms of supply chains, with the U.S. wanting to be less reliant on China and other foreign countries in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
China was supposed to a central issue at this year’s G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan and be front-and-center at the Quad summit, which was supposed to take place later this week in Sydney, Australia.
But the president’s domestic woes – the ongoing debt crisis – led him to announce that the Australia and Papua New Guinea portions of the trip would be canceled.
Quad leaders – those from Australia, Japan, India and the U.S. – instead met on the sidelines of the G7 in Hiroshima Saturday night.
In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s surprise in-person appearance at the summit turned a lot of the conversation to the war in Ukraine.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk