Biden plays down 'dictators' comment about Xi Jinping

President Joe Biden said on Thursday that his comment about “dictators” when referring to Xi Jinping would not affect recent progress in U.S.-China relations.

Biden used the term on Tuesday during a campaign event in Kentfield, Calif., while discussing a Chinese spy balloon that the U.S. downed in February. When asked about the comment during a news conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India on Thursday, Biden said he expected to meet with the Chinese president sometime in the near future, adding that he did not think the incident “had any real consequence.”

“Saying what I think is facts with regard to China is just not something I’m going to change very much,” Biden said.

The detection of the balloon above the continental United States in February generated bipartisan anger about foreign surveillance of the country. The balloon was shot down off the coast of the Carolinas by an American fighter jet. Tensions over the episode delayed Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China from February to this week.

On Thursday, Biden said the spy balloon episode “caused some confusion,” but affirmed that Blinken had asuccessful trip to China, where he met with Xi and doubled down on the United States’ commitment to maintaining a relationship between the two nations.

Despite Biden’s saying that diplomatic relations would be unharmed by the “dictator” comment, it appears to have stirred unrest in China. The Chinese governmentregistered a formal protest earlier on Thursday and alsoreportedly summoned the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, R. Nicholas Burns, for an official reprimand over the comment.

Later in the news conference with Modi, Biden added that he believed U.S relations were friendlier with India than with China in part because “there is an overwhelming respect for each other because we’re both democracies.” India has long been viewed as a key ally in the U.S. effort to contain China’s global influence.