On Wednesday, 15 November, U.S. President Joe Biden referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a ‘Dictator’, just hours after their summit. In a briefing on Thursday 16 November, China responded to Biden's comment.
Biden, conducting a solo news conference after four hours of discussions with Xi on the outskirts of San Francisco, was asked whether he still held this view, which he previously expressed in June.
Biden stated, "Well, look, he is," explaining that Xi is a dictator in the context of leading a communist country with a government vastly different from the United States.
Photo: Yahoo News
Earlier, he emphasized to Xi, "I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader-to-leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunications. We have to ensure competition does not veer into conflict."
US-China Meet
The US-China Summit, held at an expansive mansion in California, was their first face-to-face meeting in a year, it was an attempt to improve relations between the two nations. The summit occurred on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
Biden and Xi dedicated four hours to meetings, a working lunch, and a garden stroll at a picturesque Northern California estate. The purpose was to demonstrate to the world that, despite being global economic competitors, they are not engaged in a winner-take-all faceoff.
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Summit concluded with Presidents Biden and Xi committing to managing differences and maintaining stable relations. Described as open, frank, and candid, the discussions allowed Biden to directly express his views to Xi, who responded with his own perspectives, as reported by news agency PTI.
Throughout the meeting, the two leaders engaged in discussions covering a wide array of topics, including bilateral relations, regional and global concerns such as Iran, the Middle East, Ukraine, Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, economic matters, artificial intelligence, drugs, and climate change.
Photo: The Guardian
Additionally, the leaders reached an agreement to restart military-to-military level talks, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart leading the discussions.
After the meeting, China committed to taking action against companies involved in illegal drug trade in the US, as reported by a senior administration official.
A key outcome of the meeting was the agreement that if either leader has a concern, "we should pick up the phone and call one another, and we'll take the call," stated Biden during a news conference following the talks, emphasising the significance of this progress.
China’s Response
In response to Biden's remarks, China's foreign ministry strongly opposed the comments without explicitly mentioning Biden by name. During a routine briefing on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning denounced the statement as "extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation."
Addressing Biden's comments, Mao suggested the involvement of individuals with ulterior motives seeking to provoke and harm U.S.-China relations but stressed their inevitable failure.
In March, Xi secured a third term as president through unanimous voting in China's National People's Congress. Considered the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, Xi has spent the past decade consolidating power in policy-making and the military, while curbing media freedoms.
The Chinese delegation, present in the United States for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, did not immediately respond. However, a demonstration in the city's downtown featured hundreds of Beijing critics chanting "free Tibet" and "free Hong Kong."
Previously when Biden made a similar dictator reference in June, China dismissed the remarks as absurd and provocative, but it did not hinder extensive talks aimed at improving strained relations, ultimately leading to Wednesday's meeting.
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