WOODSIDE, California — President Joe Biden defended describing Chinese President Xi Jinping as a dictator earlier this year, despite minutes before calling his four-hour meeting with his counterpart among the most constructive that they have had.
“Well, look, he is,” Biden told reporters Wednesday during his post-Xi summit press conference. “He’s a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours. Anyway, we made progress.”
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Biden had earlier used the word “progress” during his opening remarks, saying the two leaders had “made some important progress” on issues such as fentanyl and military-to-military communication.
Biden said “being blunt with one another” is “critical” for diplomacy, adding Xi has “been straight” with him.
Biden and Xi have agreed to measures targeting precursor chemicals and pill presses for fentanyl, in addition to restarting defense policy and operational discussions, including with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr.
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On U.S.-China disagreement regarding Taiwan, a senior administration official earlier told reporters Xi appeared frustrated with U.S. speculation about the prospect of an attack.
“President Xi basically said look, I hear all these reports in the United States how we’re planning for, you know, military action in 2027 or 2035,” the official said. “There seemed a slight amount of exasperation in those comments. And then basically said there are no such plans, no one has talked to me about this.”
