On Saturday, Joe Biden arrived in Philadelphia, PA, to battle it out with Sen. John Fetterman for who is the least capable of doing their job. Before their trainwreck of a joint presser, though, the president took a question on US tensions with China while exiting Air Force One.

What he told a reporter in response was astonishing. Namely, Biden claimed that the Chinese spy balloon that traversed much of the continental United States wasn’t intentional and that CCP leadership wasn’t even aware of what the balloon was doing.

REPORTER: Can Secretary Blinken ease tensions with China on this trip, do you think?

BIDEN: Sure, well look…(long pause)…China has…(long pause)…some legitimate difficulties unrelated, unrelated to the United States. And…I think, one of the things that that balloon caused was not so much that it got shot down, but I don’t think that the leadership knew where it was, and knew what was in it, and knew what was going on. I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional.

And so, uh, I’m hoping that over the next several months, I’ll be meeting with Xi again, and talking about legitimate differences we have, but also how those areas we can get along.

What did that shameless, dishonest groveling at the feet of the Chinese dictatorship accomplish? The answer is apparently nothing. When Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the adversarial nation on Sunday to hold more fruitless talks, the CCP immediately set out to embarrass the Biden administration.

Is this how this entire trip is going to go?

Blinken lands in China. No red carpet, no greeting party and no high level CPC officals. pic.twitter.com/BNDlj66qz4

— DaiWW (@BeijingDai) June 18, 2023

Low level official met Blinken at the airport. May be the start of Beijing’s plan to humiliate him. Let’s hope not. https://t.co/CGJADBU6lf

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) June 18, 2023

When high-ranking diplomats (and there is no higher ranking than Blinken) visit other countries, it is an act of tradition and respect to roll out the red carpet. It’s also customary for that person’s foreign counterpart, usually the one he’ll be negotiating with, to be in attendance to greet said diplomat and escort them to the meeting place or where they are staying. In this case, Blinken was met with a low-ranking official while given essentially zero pomp and circumstance, and the reason China snubbed him isn’t exactly a mystery.

As it stands, the CCP sees Biden as weak and ineffective. Not surprisingly, that’s because the president is weak and ineffective. His prostration before Xi Jinping on Saturday, defending China’s aggression with talking points that came straight out of Beijing (and that his own administration officials have contradicted), has only made the situation worse.

Right now, the United States is operating as a vassal state for a genocidal regime that seeks to spread its influence throughout the world. It’s certainly fair to keep asking why Biden has taken this position toward China, especially given his family’s corrupt dealings with the nation. Regardless, the ongoing position of US relations with the Chinese is outright dangerous, and the current president is in no way equipped to handle them. Xi Jinping is laughing at him.