Beijing has expressed a strong protest to Washington in connection with the recent statement by US President Joe Biden regarding Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
"China expresses acute discontent and strong protest," Mao told reporters, noting that Biden's remarks are "extremely absurd, extremely irresponsible, contradict the facts, seriously violate diplomatic etiquette, [and] are a serious infringement on China's political dignity and an open political provocation."
During his address to his supporters in California on Tuesday, the US president said that Xi did not have all the information about the incident with the balloon earlier this year, adding that this was "a great embarrassment for dictators."
In February, the United States detected and later shot down four unidentified flying objects, including a Chinese surveillance balloon. Washington alleged that it was designed to gather intelligence about sensitive military sites in the country. Beijing insisted that the balloon was a mere meteorological device that entered the US airspace accidentally while expressing protest over Pentagon's decision to shoot it down.