Biden's "Villain and Time Bomb" Remarks... China Opposes "Fanning Division and Confrontation"

China Mentions 'High Unemployment Rate and Aging Workforce' Saying "The Villain Does Bad Things When Problems Arise"

U.S. President Joe Biden described the Chinese government as "bad folks" and the Chinese economy as a "time bomb."

According to a White House statement on the 11th (local time), President Biden said at a political fundraising event held in Utah the previous day, "China is like a ticking time bomb in many cases," adding, "China grew at 8% annually, but now it is close to 2%, has a high unemployment rate, and the retired population outnumbers the working-age population."

U.S. President Joe Biden.
Photo by Yonhap News

President Biden continued, "This is not good because bad folks do bad things when problems arise," and said, "My point is that we need to manage our relationship with China, and I have spent more time with Xi Jinping than any other leader in the world."

He went on to explain, "We are not trying to fight China but seeking a reasonable relationship," and "I do not want to harm China."

However, Bloomberg reported that the labor aging issue and China's growth rate mentioned by President Biden differ from the facts. The outlet stated that China is expected to grow by 5.2% this year, and its unemployment rate is around 5.2%, which is lower than that of the Eurozone (6.4%).

John Kirby, White House National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications, explained during a phone briefing on the same day regarding Biden's "time bomb" remark, "President Biden was referring to the domestic challenges China faces, some of which are economic and others social and cultural," adding, "President Biden mentioned that internal tensions in China could also affect how China interacts with the world."

Liu Fengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., said in a statement sent to Reuters, "We should not make Beijing a scapegoat to fuel division and confrontation," and added, "We oppose the U.S. politicizing, slandering, or undermining China's prospects."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.