Biden lauds U.S. midterms as a symbol of democracy after meeting with China’s Xi Jinping
Updated
Vice-President Joe Biden has praised the U.S. midterm elections as a “symbol of our democracy” after meeting with the Chinese President, but said the results were not indicative of China’s political system.
Biden said the elections were the “American equivalent to the Chinese local elections that you had in the last year”.
“I find it to be rather interesting that the Chinese like to pretend that we are so democratic they don’t need to have elections,” he said during a visit to the Middle Kingdom.
“So the election that we had, the elections that you had, the local elections that you had and the national elections that you had were the equivalent of the local elections that you had in the last year,” he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (centre) with Vice-President Joe Biden (right)
“And I find it interesting that you, the Chinese, want to pretend that we are so democratic that we don’t need to have elections that we put up in a country without a democracy.”
Biden said the Chinese people were seeking to “solve problems” and that the midterm elections were an opportunity to voice their demands.
“So it was the opportunity for China to voice their demands on the issues to the people of America,” he said.
“And I find it rather interesting that the Chinese like to pretend that we are so democratic they don’t need to have elections that we put up in a country without a democracy.”
“So the election that we had, the elections that you had, the local elections that you had and the national elections that you had were the equivalent of the local elections that you had in the last year,” he said.
“And I find it rather interesting that the Chinese like to pretend that we are so democratic they don