China 'strongly opposes' Biden's dictator remark

China’s foreign ministry denounced President Joe Biden’s comment Thursday calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator” for the second time this year.

“This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters on Thursday, according to Reuters.

China's foreign ministry said it “strongly opposes” Biden’s remarks, without mentioning him by name. “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,” she said.

When asked by a reporter on Wednesday if Biden still believed Xi was a dictator, Biden stood by the assessment that he made earlier this year.

“Look, he is. He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country,” Biden said during a news conference, just after he announced agreements on a number of confidence-building measures with his Chinese counterpart.

Biden’s remarks came after a four-hour session with Xi — the first meeting between the two in a year.

Biden made similar comments in June, referring to Xi as a dictator when speaking about a spy balloon that the U.S. shot down in February. China responded to Biden’s first dictator comment by calling it “blatant political provocation.”