President Joe Biden has brushed off concerns that his comments this week labelling China’s leader Xi Jinping a “dictator” could undermine efforts to repair relations between Washington and Beijing. 

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday with Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, Biden said his remark at a California fundraiser did not have “any real consequence” on ties with China.

“I expect to be meeting President Xi sometime in the future,” he said. Biden added he would not avoid speaking about the facts of the relationship with China and it was not something he would “change very much”.