Biden was caught on hot mic saying that China was “testing us all across the region.” The comments came as the US president hosted a Quad summit with Australian, Japanese and Indian leaders.

US President Joe Biden was caught telling his Quad summit partners that China was “testing us” with aggressive tactics — comments which overtook a carefully worded joint statement which did not mention Beijing by name.

“China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits,” Biden was overheard telling Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.