FirstFT: China outraged after Biden calls Xi a ‘dictator’

Good morning. China has responded with outrage after US president Joe Biden called his counterpart Xi Jinping a “dictator” in a spat that threatens to undermine nascent efforts to stabilise the US-China relationship.

Biden said at a campaign fundraising event on Tuesday that Xi had not known about an alleged spy balloon that flew over the US this year. The incident sent bilateral ties plunging to their lowest point in decades.

“That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened,” the US president told about 130 supporters at a gathering at a private home in California.

The Chinese foreign ministry described Biden’s remarks as “extremely absurd and irresponsible”, adding that they “seriously violate basic facts, diplomatic protocols and China’s political dignity”. It also described the US president’s comments at the fundraiser as “open political provocations”.

His comments came in the same week that Antony Blinken — the first US secretary of state to visit Beijing since 2018 — met Xi in an effort to repair ties.

Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund, said that while the comments might not cause a “visible setback” in US-China relations, they could harm the ties between the presidents, particularly in the wake of previous remarks from Biden about defending Taiwan and other statements that have irked Beijing.

Will the row over Biden’s “dictator” comment derail efforts to stabilise US-China relations? Send your thoughts to benjamin.wilhelm@ft.com.

Here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Narendra Modi’s US visit: India’s prime minister will address a joint session of Congress and attend a state banquet at the White House. US-India relations have deepened in recent years, secured by rising defence and technology co-operation and the shared goal of countering China.

• Chinese diplomacy: Following a visit to Germany, Chinese premier Li Qiang will be in France, where he plans to attend a global finance summit hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron. (Associated Press)

• South Korea’s entertainment wave: Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos visits Seoul to speak about the media streaming company’s $2.5bn investment in South Korean entertainment.

Five more top stories

1. The US Federal Trade Commission has sued Amazon, accusing it of tricking customers into signing up for its Prime service without their consent and “sabotaging” efforts to undo their subscriptions. The lawsuit is the latest from US regulators against Big Tech companies as they crack down on what they have described as anti-competitive or anti-consumer business practices.

2. Volkswagen plans to commission an independent audit of its factory in Xinjiang, as discussions with its Chinese joint venture partner have turned “fruitful”. The comments from VW chief executive Oliver Blume came after a non-profit organisation on Tuesday accused VW of being linked to forced labour in Xinjiang in a formal complaint filed with German regulators.

• Related: Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes have been accused of using forced labour in their Chinese supply chains, in one of the first cases brought under Germany’s new supply chain law.

3. The search for a submersible that has disappeared in the north Atlantic is focusing on “underwater noises”, after sonar buoys detected sounds Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the area where the craft went missing while on an expedition to view the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. Read the latest on the search for the submersible with five passengers aboard.

4. Beijing-based ByteDance is selling products to TikTok’s UK users through a new feature on the viral video app called “Trendy Beat”, which advertises items that have proven popular on videos. The items are shipped from China and sold by a company registered in Singapore that is owned by ByteDance, part of the group’s push to expand its own retail offerings. Learn more about the effort known internally as “Project S”.

5. SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son has said the company will go on the “counteroffensive” after nearly three years of asset sales and hoarding cash to resume the technology group’s investments in artificial intelligence. Here’s more on the comments to investors from SoftBank’s billionaire founder.

• Related: Credit Suisse’s lawsuit against SoftBank has been thrown into doubt following the Swiss bank’s rescue by rival UBS, which counts the Japanese conglomerate as a client.

The Big Read

During Brazil’s presidential elections last October, far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro had been attacking the electoral process in ways reminiscent of Donald Trump in the US. In the end, he accepted opponent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s win — a testament to the strength of the country’s institutions. But it was also in part down to a discreet, little-known, year-long pressure campaign by the US government.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

Chart of the day

The rise in pasta prices is far outpacing broader inflation in parts of Europe and has continued despite a sharp drop in the cost of the wheat used to make it. European pasta producers have been accused of profiteering and “greedflation” as shoppers wonder why they are still paying so much.

Take a break from the news

In the age of the casual, cufflinks are at risk of slipping into obscurity. The FT’s Robert Armstrong makes the case for bringing back the cufflink, and offers tips for picking the right one.

Additional contributions by Tee Zhuo and Gordon Smith