After the two leaders concluded uncomplicated summit talks, U.S. President Joe Biden stated on Wednesday that he had not changed his opinion that Chinese President Xi Jinping was essentially a tyrant. Beijing is expected to take exception to this statement.
After four hours of negotiations with Xi on the outskirts of San Francisco, Biden had a solitary press conference. He was questioned about if he still believed that Xi was a dictator after the news conference. He had stated as much in June.
“Alright, he is. “He’s a dictator in the sense that he governs a communist nation with a very different system of government than our own,” Biden remarked.
China’s foreign ministry responded by stating that it “strongly opposes” the comments, but it did not specifically identify Biden.
At a routine briefing on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters, “This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation.”
“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.” When asked who “some people” were, Mao declined to give a specific name.
In an election where there was only one other candidate, over 3,000 members of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, overwhelmingly supported Xi to win a third term as president last March.
Also read: Biden is disappointed that Xi will not attend the G20 summit.
After strengthening his position in the military and policy-making over the course of ten years, as well as restricting media freedoms, Xi is regarded as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.
The Chinese delegation, which was in the United States for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in San Francisco, did not respond right away. At midday, hundreds of Beijing critics marched through the downtown area of the city while yelling “free Tibet” and “free Hong Kong.”
China branded Biden’s June remarks as ludicrous and provocative when he made a similar allusion to a tyrant. However, the altercation did not stop the two parties from having lengthy discussions meant to mend strained relations, which resulted in the meeting on Wednesday.
