US President Joe Biden commented on press leaks about the Chinese president's refusal to meet with him to discuss ways to ease tension between Beijing and Washington.
Biden told reporters on Tuesday that it was not true that Chinese President Xi Jinping had let him down when he suggested they hold a summit during a phone call last week.
The "Financial Times" had reported that Biden suggested holding a summit with his Chinese counterpart, but he did not get a promise to do so, which was later denied by the White House.
The newspaper quoted - according to a number of people familiar with the content of the call - that the Chinese president did not show interest in the offer, and instead stressed the need for Washington to adopt a less severe rhetoric with Beijing.
The conversation between the US president and his Chinese counterpart lasted 90 minutes.
A source briefed on the conversation confirmed the accuracy of the newspaper's report.
"Xi seems to have hinted that the tone and atmosphere should be improved first," he said.
The Financial Times quoted one of the sources as saying that Biden had raised the issue of the summit as one of the ways to communicate with the Chinese president, and that he was not waiting for a response immediately.
And the newspaper quoted a US official as saying that the White House believes that concerns about Covid-19 are among the reasons why the Chinese president did not react to the idea of holding a summit.
The call was the first contact between these two presidents in 7 months, during which they talked about the need to ensure that competition between the two largest economies in the world does not turn into conflict.