Joe Biden says he once told President Barack Obama that "China's not our problem" — if the United States would only "invest and remember who we are."
According to the Daily Caller, the front-running Democratic presidential candidate recalled the conversation while speaking with supporters in Iowa on Wednesday, touting his foreign policy credentials while serving in the Senate as as Obama's vice president.
"I've met virtually every major world leader in the last 40 years — not hyperbole, fact," Biden told supporters, the DC reported.
And then recalling meetings with Obama, he added about one conversation with the then-president:
"We talked about China. I said China is not our problem. China is not our problem if we invest and remember who we. Imagine the situation — I've spent more time with Xi Jinping than any world leader had before I left the vice presidency."
Biden has previously downplayed China's potential threat to the United States, saying in April, China is not "competition for us."
At that time, Biden mocked President Donald Trump's position on China at a campaign rally last week saying "China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man . . . they can't even figure out how to deal with the fact that they have this great division between the China Sea and the mountains in the east, I mean in the west," The Hill reported.
"They can't figure out how they're going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system. I mean, you know, they're not bad folks, folks. But guess what, they're not, they're not competition for us."
When the comment triggered some pushback, he amended the remark at a fundraiser in Columbia, S.C., the DC reported, saying he was "the guy who's been toughest" on China.
"I don't suggest China is not a problem. I'm the guy who's been the toughest on – I've spent more time with Xi Jinping than anybody else, just because the nature of my job," he said, the DC reported.
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