Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that President Joe Biden’s San Francisco summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping was a propaganda win for China.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Let’s turn to President Biden this week at his summit on the Pacific Summit. He referred to President Xi Jinping as a dictator. Now, yesterday, you agreed with that but also criticized personal diplomacy more generally. You said, quote, you’re not going to win these guys over with personal charm. I mean, these guys are killers. Just to be clear, you’re calling Xi Jinping a killer?”
DeSantis said, “Well, look, what’s been happening to the Uighurs? What’s been happening in so many places in China? Of course, he’s an authoritarian. Of course, he’s a dictator. He’s ruling the country with an iron fist. I think that the summit was a big win for Xi in terms of the propaganda. You know, you had American business leaders paying $40,000 to be able to sit with him at dinner. He got a rousing ovation from a lot of American CEOs.”
He added, “I know that’s already being played in China as an example of China basically being America’s equal on the world stage. I don’t think Joe Biden got anything of note out of this. I mean, they talk about cooperating for fentanyl as if China doesn’t know the fentanyl is being sent to Mexico and into the United States. Of course, they know. This is part of their national strategy to hurt this country. So, I think it was a bust from Biden’s perspective. And I think it was a win for Xi.”
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