(CNSNews.com) - President Joe Biden says any suggestion that he was derelict in his duty to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon before it traversed the United States is "a bizarre notion."
"China knows exactly what the deal is with us," Biden said on Wednesday in a sit-down interview with PBS's Judy Woodruff during his trip to Wisconsin.
"Have relations now between the U.S. And China taken a big hit?" Woodruff asked the president.
"No," Biden said. "No."
"How do you know?" Woodruff asked him.
"I know, I talk to them," Biden said. "I talked to Xi Jinping before, and our team talks to their people."
Woodruff asked Biden if he's talked to the Chinese president since the Chinese spy balloon appeared, forcing the Biden administration to cancel Secretary of State Antony Blinken's planned trip to Beijing.
"I have not talked to them during this," Biden said. "But, look, I mean (he laughed) -- the idea, shooting down a balloon that's gathering information over America and is -- and that makes relations worse?
"Look, I made it real clear to Xi Jinping that we're going to compete fully with China, but we're not looking for conflict. And that's been the case so far.
"Let me put it another way. As I said, can you think of any other, and you are very informed on foreign policy. Can you think of any other world leader who would trade places with Xi Jinping? Not a joke. Can you think of any who would? I can't think of one. This man has enormous problems. He also has great potential.
"But so far -- he has an economy that's not functioning very well. He is in a situation where he is, uh -- for example, you know, everybody assumed China would be all-in with Russia and Ukraine. They are not all in.
“Matter of fact, I called him this summer and said this is not a threat, just an observation. Look what's happened to Russia. Six hundred corporations have pulled out of Russia, from McDonald's to Exxon.
"And I said, you've told me all along the reason why you need a relationship with the United States and Europe is so they invest in China. I said, who's going to invest in China if you engage in the same kind of deal? You notice there's not been much going on there."
Woodruff changed the subject.
Biden made the same puzzling remark about no one wanting to change places with Xi Jinping during Tuesday night's State of the Union address.
"We face serious challenges across the world," Biden said. " But in the past two years, democracies have become stronger, not weaker. Autocracies have grown weaker, not stronger.
"Name me a world leader who’d change places with Xi Jinping. Name me one! Name me one!" he shouted, sounding angry.