China has issued a damning reply to U.S. President Joe Biden's comments that he still considers President Xi Jinping 'a dictator', just hours after the pair held clear-the-air talks in California.

China's foreign ministry said it 'strongly opposes' the 'wrong and irresponsible' remarks. 

Biden said Wednesday: 'He's a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different than ours.'

Beijing's spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a routine briefing Thursday: 'This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation.

'It should be pointed out that there will always be some people with ulterior motives who attempt to incite and damage U.S.-China relations, they are doomed to fail.'

The meeting had been mooted as an opportunity to reverse the trajectory of rhetoric between the two powers in light of the spy balloon saga in January and escalating situation surrounding Taiwan