SAN FRANCISCO — The White House is dismissing the idea President Joe Biden undermined his own diplomacy with Chinese President Xi Jinping by defending his earlier description of him as a dictator.

"The president comes away from the meeting yesterday feeling very good about the content of the discussions over the course of four hours and the progress that we were able to make on some very significant fronts," national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday.

RAMASWAMY PUSHES PETITION FOR MCDANIEL'S OUSTER AS RNC CHAIRWOMAN

Kirby cited the resumption of military-to-military communication as one achievement, in addition to commitments to counter fentanyl production and exportation through law enforcement and to cooperate on artificial intelligence.

He did not answer questions regarding whether China shared with the U.S. the circumstances under which it would intervene in Taiwan.

"I won't speak for President Xi. I can't do that. But certainly, the issues around the Taiwan Strait came up and President Biden made it very clear, as he made it clear to all of you last night, he made it clear to President Xi that we don't seek conflict," Kirby said. "We were pursuing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. That's what we wanted and still want."

He added, "There's no change to our One China policy, that we don't support independence for Taiwan, but that we will, in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, continue to provide self-defense capabilities to Taiwan, and, again, made the point that we don't want to see the status quo changed in any sort of a unilateral way and certainly not by force."

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has criticized Biden's "dictator" comment as "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," she said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Biden made the off-the-cuff remark in response to a question shouted at the end of his post-Xi meeting press conference.

“Well, look, he is," Biden told reporters 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. Anyway, we made progress."