China’s foreign ministry lashed out Thursday after President Joe Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator,” undermining White House efforts to cool tensions with Beijing.
Biden and Xi met face-to-face in California on Wednesday for the first time since November of 2022 in an effort to lower tensions between the U.S. and China. Following the meeting, Biden said he stood by his claim earlier in the year that Xi was a dictator, a comment the Chinese Communist Party blasted as “political manipulation,” Reuters reported. (RELATED: Watch Antony Blinken Get Visibly Rattled When Biden Calls Xi A Dictator)
“This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Thursday, according to Reuters, adding that they “strongly oppose” Biden’s remarks. Mao did not mention Biden by name.
“It should be pointed out that there will always be some people with ulterior motives who attempt to incite and damage U.S.-China relations, they are doomed to fail,” Mao continued.
Mao refused to explain who he was referencing when saying “some people,” Reuters reported.
US President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ week in Woodside, California on November 15, 2023. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
After a four-hour bilateral meeting with Xi, Biden held a solo press conference touting the progress the two world leaders made. They agreed to begin military-t0-military communications again while also working “dramatically curtail” the creation of precursors to fentanyl. (RELATED: Biden Secures Major Concession As Xi Suggests Sending More Pandas To America)
A reporter asked the president following the press conference if he still refers “to President Xi as a dictator,” adding that Biden had “used [the term] earlier in the year.”
“Well, look, he is. I mean he’s a dictator in a sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that is based on a form of government totally different than ours,” Biden responded.
President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on resuming military talks after meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative conference.
When pressed by reporters on whether he trusted Xi, Biden conceded that China’s leader is a dictator. pic.twitter.com/yBAc8Zzxw6
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 16, 2023
Ahead of the backlash from the CCP, Biden and Xi’s meeting was touted as a success as it appeared to begin to mend their unstable relationship. In the days prior to the meeting, the White House downplayed the expectations of the meeting.
“I welcome the positive steps we’ve taken today and it’s important for the world to see that we’re implementing the approach in the best traditions of American diplomacy,” Biden said in a Wednesday press conference.
“President Biden did not pull punches. He was respectful but very clear,” a senior administrative official said after their meeting.