President Joe Biden issued a warning about China at a fundraiser in Utah last week, making some unflattering characterizations about the U.S. rival.
“China is a ticking time bomb in many cases,” Biden said, according to The Hill. “They’ve got some problems. That’s not good because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things.”
The warning comes on the heels of an executive order signed by Biden on August 9 that restricts U.S.-based investments in parts of China’s tech sector. The move is seen by Liza Tobin, a former National Security Council official now with the Special Competitive Studies Project, as advancing the administration’s broader goal of decoupling the U.S. economy from that of China’s, reported The Wall Street Journal.
The order prohibits investment in “countries of concern,” which it defines as China, including the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The ban applies to semiconductors, microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence.
In July, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen discussed the upcoming investment restrictions with Chinese officials. Afterward, she explained during an appearance on the CBS program Face the Nation that the restrictions were narrowly tailored to protect national security and were not aimed at achieving an economic advantage.
“National security is something that we can’t compromise about and we will protect, and we will do so even if it harms our own narrow economic interests. But that when we take such actions, which do have an effect on the Chinese economy, that we will make sure that they are transparent, narrowly targeted, and well-explained,” said Yellen.
“I would point out that the Chinese also protect their own national security through export controls and other similar devices,” Yellen added.
However, Chinese officials did not appear to accept the administration’s claims about its motivations.
“China is strongly dissatisfied with and resolutely opposed to the U.S.’s insistence on introducing restrictions on investment in China,” said China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement, according to a translation by CNBC. “This is blatant economic coercion and technological bullying.”
China’s Xinhua News Agency said Biden was up to the “old trick” of trying to distract from the United States’ mountain of domestic problems, per ZeroHedge.
The administration’s confrontational stance towards China comes as congressional lawmakers investigate the president and his son for allegedly enriching themselves through years of influence-peddling on behalf of companies tied to the Chinese government, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.