Sharjah24 – Reuters: U.S. President Joe Biden denied on Tuesday a media report that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, last week turned down an offer from Biden for a face-to-face meeting.

The Financial Times cited multiple people briefed on a 90-minute call between the two leaders last week as saying Xi did not take Biden up on the offer and instead insisted that Washington adopt a less strident tone toward Beijing.

"It's not true," Biden said when asked by reporters if he was disappointed that Xi did not want to meet with him.

Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in a statement earlier on Tuesday that the report was "not an accurate portrayal of the call. Period."

A source who was among those briefed on the call confirmed the report was accurate.

China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond when asked to comment.

It cited one U.S. official as saying that while Xi did not engage with the idea of a summit, the White House believed that was partly due to concerns about COVID-19.

The G20 summit in Italy in October has been talked about as a possible venue for a face-to-face meeting, but Xi has not left China since the outbreak of the pandemic early last year.