President Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic telling leaders of the Quad nations that China was testing them, thus reflecting upon the American seriousness of the emerging Chinese threat.
Biden's remark came during the Quad Leaders' Summit on Saturday, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
"We believe Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimise the turbulence in China," Biden told the leaders at the Summit.
His opening remarks were caught on the hot mic as pool reporters were leaving the Summit venue. Biden was heard saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping is "looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China's interest." Biden added that China continues to "behave aggressively, testing us all across the region on several fronts, including on economic and technology issues".
"At the same time, we believe intense competition requires intense diplomacy," he said.
Later a senior administration official tried to downplay the error.
"I don't think I have much to elaborate on that. It's consistent with what has been said before, and I don't think it'll be much of a surprise that our inside voice matches our outside voice," the official said.
"I think it's not surprising that China would have been on the agenda. It's an Indo-Pacific convening. This is an Indo-Pacific partnership. China is a major country in the Indo-Pacific. But I think it's also fair to say that there were a number of other topics on the agenda," said the official.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
It claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.
The four-member Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, advocates upholding a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. China claims that the grouping aims to contain its rise.
