Biden calls Xi a dictator after carefully planned summit

U.S. President Joe Biden says Xi Jinping is a dictator. China "strongly opposes" remarks. Biden and Xi held summit talks. Biden made similar comment in June. China called June remarks "absurd & provocation." Talks aimed at improving strained relations

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he had not changed his view that Chinese President Xi Jinping was effectively a dictator, a comment likely to land with a thud in Beijing after the two leaders held straightforward summit talks.

Mr. Biden held a solo news conference after four hours of talks with Mr. Xi on the outskirts of San Francisco. At the end of the news conference, he was asked whether he still held the view that Mr. Xi was a dictator, something he said in June.

"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," Mr. Biden said.

In response, China's Foreign Ministry said it "strongly opposes" the remarks, without mentioning Mr. Biden by name.

"This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters on Thursday at a routine briefing.

"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."

Mr. Mao refused to specify the identity of "some people" in answer to a follow-up question.