President Joe Biden shrugged off concerns Thursday that his characterization of Chinese President Xi Jinping as a dictator hurt U.S. relations with the country.
During a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Biden told reporters he expects to meet with Xi soon and does not believe his recent comments have had any consequences on relations.
The president had made the remark Tuesday night at a fundraiser in San Francisco while discussing the Chinese surveillance balloon that made its way across the U.S. months ago.
"The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didn't know it was there," Biden said.
"No, I'm serious," he continued. "That was the great embarrassment for dictators — when they didn't know what happened."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning condemned condemned Biden's comments as "extremely absurd and extremely irresponsible," lodging an official complaint with U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng "made serious representations and strong protests to senior officials" at the White House and Department of State on Wednesday.
Biden's comments in California came just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China, an important trip amid fears that the country is seeking to invade Taiwan in the coming years.
"I think what you can anticipate following this visit are the visits of other colleagues in the government [and] Chinese officials coming to the United States," Blinken told NBC News' Janis Mackey Frayer.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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