U.S. President Joe Biden blasted China¡¯s economic problems as a ¡°ticking time bomb¡± and referred to Communist Party leaders as ¡°bad folks,¡± his latest barb against President Xi Jinping¡¯s government even as his administration seeks to improve overall ties with Beijing.
In comments that included several major inaccuracies about the world¡¯s second-largest economy, Biden said at a political fundraiser Thursday that China was in ¡°trouble¡± because its growth has slowed and it had the ¡°highest unemployment rate going.¡± He also blasted Xi¡¯s signature Belt and Road initiative as the ¡°debt and noose,¡± because of the high levels of lending to developing economies associated with the global investment program.
¡°China was growing at 8% a year to maintain growth, now close to 2% a year,¡± he told donors in Park City, Utah, misstating China¡¯s rate of expansion. ¡°It¡¯s in a position where the number of people who are of retirement age is larger than the number of people of working age,¡± he added, a statement that was not only incorrect but also off by hundreds of millions of people.
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