The Biden administration is currently downplaying the president’s diplomatic faux pas of calling the Chinese president “a dictator.”
The comment threatened to undo all the progress the two world leaders had made at their meeting in San Francisco this week. Those discussions ended with several agreements, including resuming military communications and fighting fentanyl trafficking.
But Beijing spokeswoman Mao Ning criticized the comment as irresponsible political manipulation. She added that people with ulterior motives will try to sabotage U.S.-China relations.
The White House denies that Biden’s off-the-cuff remark undermined his own diplomacy. Spokesman John Kirby expressed no regret over the use of the word, instead saying that the president walked away from the talks “feeling very good.”