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U.S. President Joe Biden has again called his Chinese counterpart a dictator â a move that could potentially unravel the progress made between the world's two leading powers.
Shortly after his first meeting with China President Xi Jinping in a year, Biden responded to a question on whether he stood by his June comment labeling Xi a dictator.
"Well, look, he is," Biden said Wednesday after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in San Francisco.
"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."
In June, just one day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his first official visit to Beijing, Biden called Xi a dictator during a campaign fundraiser in California.
The U.S. president dismissed concerns at that time, saying his remarks did not undermine shaky bilateral ties.
China then slammed Biden's comments as "utterly absurd and irresponsible" and a "provocation."
At the press conference on Wednesday, Biden touted a fresh commitment to resume high-level communication between the militaries of both countries, along with agreements to work together in areas ranging from artificial intelligence to drug control and education.
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