Blinken appears to shake his head as Biden calls Xi Jinping ‘dictator’

Antony Blinken, America’s top diplomat, appeared to shake his head in exasperation when Joe Biden went off script and called Xi Jinping a “dictator” at the end of a carefully choreographed summit. The four-hour meeting between Biden and Xi on Wednesday followed months of diplomatic efforts to lay the groundwork, including a trip by Blinken to Beijing.

It was the first time in more than a year that the leaders of the world’s two largest economies met in person. Both sides initially called the talks a constructive breakthrough that had reduced tensions on a wide range of issues. However, at a subsequent press conference, Biden said he considered Xi a “dictator,” adding, “Look, that’s what he is.”

That provoked a furious response from Beijing, which called Biden’s comments “irresponsible.” As Biden made the undiplomatic remarks, Blinken, who sat in the front row a few feet away from the president on stage, appeared to back away.

He pulled his head to the side and clutched his hands even tighter. Biden held the press conference alone without Xi at the remote Filoli estate outside San Francisco. The president previously called Xi a dictator in June and was asked whether he still holds that view.

He replied, “Look, that’s him. He is a dictator in the sense that he is a man who runs a country that is a communist country and is based on a form of government that is completely different from ours.” China’s Foreign Ministry quickly said it “strongly opposes” Biden’s views.

“This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said. “It should be pointed out that there will always be those with ulterior motives who seek to inflame and damage US-China relations; they are doomed to failure.”

Last March, Xi won a third term as president when nearly 3,000 members of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, voted unanimously for him in an election in which there was no other candidate. Xi is considered the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, after a decade of consolidating power in policymaking and the military and suppressing media freedoms.

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