U.S. President Joe Biden again called his Chinese counterpart a dictator — a move that could potentially unravel the progress made between the world's two leading powers.
Shortly after his with China President Xi Jinping in a year, Biden responded to a question on whether he stood by his 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."
At its regular daily press conference in Beijing Thursday, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed Biden's comment as "extremely incorrect and irresponsible political manipulation."
"There are always some careless individuals attempting to sow discord and damage China-U.S. relations, but their attempts will not succeed," said Mao Ning, the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson.
In June, just one day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken , Biden called Xi a dictator during a campaign fundraiser in California.
The U.S. president dismissed concerns at that time, saying his remarks .
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 , along with agreements to work together in areas ranging from artificial intelligence to drug control and education.
