Joe Biden calls Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator

"The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn't know it was there," Biden said at the fundraiser.

"That's a great embarrassment for dictators - when they didn't know what happened.

"That wasn't supposed to be going where it was.

"It was blown off course."

A suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over US airspace in February.

That incident and exchanges of visits by US and Taiwanese officials have recently magnified US-China tensions.

Biden also said China "has real economic difficulties".

China's economy stumbled in May with industrial output and retail sales growth missing forecasts, adding to expectations Beijing will need to do more to shore up a shaky post-pandemic recovery.

The World Bank earlier this month forecast US growth for 2023 at 1.1 per cent - more than double the 0.5 per cent forecast in January - while China's growth is expected to climb to 5.6 per cent, compared to a 4.3 per cent forecast in January.

Blinken and Xi on Monday agreed to stabilise the intense rivalry between Washington and Beijing so it does not veer into conflict, but failed to produce any major breakthrough during a rare visit to China by the secretary of state.

They did agree to continue diplomatic engagement with more visits by US officials in the coming weeks and months.

The US president said on Monday he thought relations between the two countries were on the right path and indicated progress was made during Blinken's trip.

Biden said on Tuesday Xi had been concerned by the so-called Quad strategic security group, which includes Japan, Australia, India and the US.

He said he previously told Xi the US was not trying to encircle China with the Quad.

"He called me and told me not to do that because it was putting him in a bind," Biden said.

China is expected to be a topic of discussion when Biden meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US this week.