President Biden “said China…was ‘in trouble’ because of slowing growth and that it had the “highest unemployment rate going….That’s not good because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things.’”–
– President Biden, August 10, 2023
“‘I don’t think this is going to cause China to invade Taiwan,’ Biden said of the country’s economic troubles. ‘As a matter of fact, the opposite, [it] probably doesn’t have the same capacity that it had before.’”–
– President Biden, September 10, 2023
(Sources: “Biden calls China a ‘ticking time bomb’ over economic problems,” by Larissa Gao, NBC News.com, August 11, 2023, Biden calls China a ‘ticking time bomb’ over economic problems (nbcnews.com) and “Biden holds highest-level talks with Chinese leadership in months,” by Nandita Bose and Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters.com, September 10, 2023, Biden holds highest-level talks with Chinese leadership in months | Reuters)