President Joe Biden expects to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping "sometime in the future," he said at a press conference Thursday.
Biden’s hint at a future visit comes after his comments at a fundraiser Tuesday referring to Xi as a "dictator" drew backlash from Chinese officials.
Biden said at the event it is "a great embarrassment for dictators when they didn’t know what happened," claiming Xi did not know a Chinese spy balloon had drifted into U.S. airspace in February. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called the remarks "extremely absurd" and "irresponsible."
"We urge the U.S. side to immediately take earnest actions to undo the negative impact and honor its own commitments," read a statement from China’s embassy released Thursday. "Otherwise, it will have to bear all the consequences."
The president told reporters Monday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who returned on Tuesday from his meeting with Xi in Beijing, had done a "hell of a job" during his visit. Blinken had met with Xi to stabilize relations between the two nations.
Biden said at the press conference Thursday he did not think his comments "had any real consequence."
"We had an incident that caused some confusion, you might say," Biden said.