Expect candid talks: Blinken on Biden's 'dictator' remark
San Francisco, November 17
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US will continue to say things that China doesn’t like, as he defended President Joe Biden’s remarks in which he called his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping a “dictator”.
Biden called Xi, 70, a “dictator”, just hours after they met for the first time in more than a year and held candid and productive discussions to revive bilateral ties on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Blinken said the President “always speaks candidly, and he speaks for all of us”. China has opposed such remarks by Biden, 80, in the past.
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