U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he had not changed his view that Chinese President Xi Jinping was effectively a dictator, a comment likely to land with a thud in Beijing after the two leaders held straightforward summit talks.
Biden held a solo news conference after four hours of talks with Xi on the outskirts of San Francisco.
"This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters on Thursday at a routine briefing.
Last March Xi clinched a third term as president when nearly 3,000 members of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, voted unanimously for him in an election in which there was no other candidate.
There was no immediate reaction from the Chinese delegation, which had come to the United States to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.
When Biden made a similar dictator reference in June, China called the remarks absurd and a provocation.
But the spat did not prevent the two sides from holding extensive talks aimed at improving strained relations, which culminated in Wednesday's meeting.
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