The US president said he has not changed his views on Xi Jinping being a “dictator” despite a summit held to ease relations between the two countries.
Mr Biden held a solo news conference after four hours of talks with Xi, on the outskirts of San Francisco on Wednesday, where he was asked whether he still held the view that Xi was a dictator – something he had said in June.
Mr Biden answered: "Look, he is. He's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different than ours.”
The Chinese foreign ministry responded on Thursday morning, saying: “US President Joe Biden's rhetoric calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a 'dictator' was extremely wrong and an irresponsible political manipulation.
"There are always ill-intentioned people who try to drive a wedge between China-U.S. relations, which will not succeed," ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing, without elaborating.
The US leader’s comments would have been a surprise to many, as the meeting in San Francisco was intended to improve relations between the two powers.
REPORTER: "Would you still refer to President Xi as a dictator?"
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) November 16, 2023
BIDEN: "Look, he is. He's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," pic.twitter.com/XSaoyUwMW5
Progress was seemingly made, as Mr Biden said the nations had decided to resume talks and go “back to direct, open, clear, direct communication”.
Significantly, they agreed to restore military communications between their two forces.
According to the Pentagon’s most recent report on China’s military power, Beijing has “denied, cancelled or ignored” military-to-military communications and meetings with the Pentagon for much of last year and this year.
It is unclear what impact Mr Biden’s most recent comments will have on these developments.
When he called Xi a “dictator” in June, Beijing angrily responded: “The remarks seriously contradict basic facts, seriously violate diplomatic etiquette, and seriously infringe on China’s political dignity.”
