Joe Biden has criticised US President Donald Trump for his handling of Sino-American relations, saying that during his tenure as vice president he spent more time with Chinese President Xi Jinping than any other world leader has since then.
“The way [Trump] has not only mischaracterised and mishandled that relationship — he’s not a good guy, but you’ve got to know who he is and what the problems are and what you have to deal with. He’s coming at it the whole wrong way," he continued.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Xi Jinping, more time with the leader of China than any other world leader has since before we left office. I haven’t seen him since then,” the former vice president said at a Miami fundraiser Sunday evening.
Biden has been criticised for downplaying China's economic threat to the US. However, during the May's campaign in Iowa, the former US vice president and 2020 Democratic nomination candidate once again dismissed any possible competition from the Asian superpower.
"China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man," Biden said at the time. "They're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not competition for us."
Prior to the last week's Democratic debate, Donald Trump lashed out at his presidential rivals, particularly saying that Joe Biden “was falling asleep” and had “no idea what the hell he was doing or saying”. Later on, the US president took to Facebook to post a bizarre GIF of Joe Biden’s face spinning around after being photoshopped onto a vinyl record.
Nevertheless, the US president himself has been targeted by the Dems for his politics towards China as the trade war between the world's two largest national economies has been unfolding. In the most recent course of events, Donald Trump postponed last Wednesday the promised tariff hike on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods from 1 October to 15 October.