The incident was mentioned by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his recent visit to China, which aimed to stabilize relations that Beijing says are at their lowest point since formal ties were established in 1979.

Biden previously referred to China as "essentially" a dictatorship and "a place for the autocrat, the dictator." Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the remarks seriously violated China's political dignity and diplomatic protocol.

However, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel stated that Washington continues to expect engagements "in due course, when the time is appropriate." Political analysts played down the likely damage to U.S.-China engagement, with one saying the remarks would affect mutual trust but not erase what Blinken achieved on his China visit.

US President Biden has defined the current state of global politics as a battle between democracy and autocracy, and has called for democratically-led countries to establish economic ties to balance autocratic-led countries, particularly Russia and China.

Chinese President Xi has previously bristled at this definition, and recently told Biden that China has "Chinese-style democracy." Russian officials have criticized Biden's comments, describing them as "incomprehensible" and "contradictory" to efforts to ease tensions with China.

Other world leaders have been reluctant to comment on the situation.