New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he wouldn’t characterize Chinese President Xi Jinping as a dictator, disagreeing with US President Joe Biden.

“No, and the form of government that China has is a matter for the Chinese people,” Hipkins told reporters Thursday in Wellington when asked if he agreed with Biden’s assessment. The US President made the unscripted remark at a fundraiser earlier this week.

Hipkins was speaking just days before he is scheduled to meet Xi in Beijing, the first visit by a New Zealand Prime Minister to China since 2019. He is leading a business delegation there that includes executives from New Zealand’s largest companies, aiming to expand trade with what is already the nation’s largest export market.

Biden’s reference to Xi as a dictator came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Beijing with a joint commitment to ease tensions with China. In response, China said Biden’s remark was a “public political provocation.”

Asked whether the Chinese people had a say in their form of government, Hipkins said: “if they wanted to change their system of government, then that would be a matter for them.”