On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden labeled Chinese President Xi Jinping a "dictator."
The comment came just a day after top US diplomat Antony Blinken's trip to Beijing aimed at easing tensions between the two nations.
Speaking at a fundraiser in California, Biden said Xi was embarrassed when a Chinese balloon was blown off course over the United States in February.
"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," Biden stated.
"That's a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn't know what happened. That wasn't supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course," the US president added.
The alleged spy balloon incident and rising US activity in the Taiwan Strait have contributed to worsening US-China ties.
Biden also mentioned that China currently "has real economic difficulties."
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