Biden Says He’s Seeking a Meeting With China’s Xi Over Spy Balloon

American President Joe Biden seeks to meet with a Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping to discuss developments related to the United States’ shooting down a Chinese spy balloon earlier this month, and to pursue regular relations with China.

Biden ordered that the balloon be destroyed when it entered US airspace near the Idaho/Montana border on January 31. The Pentagon collected intelligence from the balloon and waited until February 4 to shoot it down off South Carolina’s coast.

“I expect to be speaking with President Xi, and I hope we are going to get to the bottom of this,” Biden During a February 16th Press Conference.

“But I make no apologies for taking down that balloon.”

The Chinese Communist PartyCCPThe Chinese single-party state of, (or ) has shut down all military communications with the United States following the incident and refused to take calls from Lloyd Austin, U.S. Defense Secretary.

Despite this resistance, the Biden administration has pledged to maintain all communication lines with China and to continue to engage the communist power in order to avoid a further deterioration of relations between these two countries.

“This episode underscores the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between our diplomats and our military professionals,” Biden said.

“Our diplomats will be engaging further, and I will remain in communication with President Xi.”

Biden indicated that the United States would continue to pursue engagement with China in order to establish normal relations.

Bis now, the Biden administration has reacted relatively slowly to the US airspace violation. sanction six entities related to China’s military spy balloon program.

China has also issued large quantities of its currency. Symbolic sanctions on the United States’ two largest defense manufacturers, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

Earlier in the month, the administration acknowledged that China’s spy balloon program had been in development for years, and targeted 40 countries on five continents, including the country’s “closest allies and partners.”

Biden stressed that despite all this, the administration still doesn’t believe it is in a Cold War with the CCP.

“We’ll also continue to engage with China, as we have throughout the past two weeks,” Biden said.

“As I’ve said since the beginning of my administration, we seek competition, not conflict, with China. We’re not looking for a new Cold War.”

Biden Administration Strives for Normal Relations With China

Biden’s remarks appear to be in line with a broader, if unofficial, policy stance adopted by the administration, which seeks better ties with China despite increasing aggression from the regime.

Indeed, numerous Biden administration officials stressed over the course the week that they will not bring forward any political ramifications in regard to the Chinese spy ball incursion.

Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States, stated to Politico that she did not see any reason why China’s spy balloon violated U.S. Airspace.

Harris was directly asked if the incident would affect diplomatic ties. simply, “I don’t think so, no.”

“Everything that has happened in the last week and a half is, we believe, very consistent with our stated approach,” Harris added in defense of the administration’s decision-making.

Likewise, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Feb. 15 that the United States would seek to avert a cold war and had every intention of sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his trip to China, which was postponed in the wake of China’s violation of U.S. airspace.

“Our communications have not stopped,” Sherman said During a talk at The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based thinktank.

“We hope when conditions make sense that we will be seeing each other face to face again.”

Congress Condemns China; Seeks Transparency From Biden

Despite assurances by the Biden administration, Congress seems to believe that CCP is making an already hot cold war even more intense, and that political implications are necessary.

Both the House and the Senate have passed resolutions formally condemning China’s communist regime for its efforts to violate U.S. sovereignty and spy on American citizens and military installations.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty,” A House resolution adopted on February 9 .

“The Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence collection directed against the United States poses a threat to United States interests and security.”

This resolution was unanimously passed by a 419 to 0 vote. It was then reflected in two Senate resolutions that were passed on February 15.

One of those not only condemned the CCP’s illegal violation of sovereignty, but “calls on the President to be transparent with the American people and Congress regarding this latest spying incident and all other attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to conduct surveillance on United States citizens, territory, and assets.”

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