Biden calls Xi 'a dictator' after Blinken's China visit

CALIFORNIA, June 21(BBC): US President Joe Biden has called Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator at a fundraising event in California.

His remarks came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Mr Xi for talks in Beijing, which were aimed at easing tensions between the two superpowers.

Mr Biden also said Mr Xi was embarrassed after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US.

China said it "firmly opposes" Mr Biden's comments.

"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 in it, was he didn't know it was there," Mr Biden said at the event on Tuesday.

"That's a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn't know what happened," he added.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called Mr Biden's remarks "extremely absurd and irresponsible".

Speaking at a regularly scheduled press conference on Wednesday, she said that the comments were "an open political provocation" that violated diplomatic etiquette.