Joe Biden NYT Op-ed in 2011: ‘China’s Rise Isn’t Our Demise’

Former Vice President Joe Biden penned an op-ed in the New York Times in 2011 declaring: “China’s Rise Isn’t Our Demise.”

Biden wrote:

Some here and in the region see China’s growth as a threat, entertaining visions of a cold-war-style rivalry or great-power confrontation. Some Chinese worry that our aim in the Asia-Pacific is to contain China’s rise.

I reject these views. … I remain convinced that a successful China can make our country more prosperous, not less.

…

As trade and investment bind us together, we have a stake in each other’s success. On issues from global security to global economic growth, we share common challenges and responsibilities — and we have incentives to work together. That is why our administration has worked to put our relationship on a stable footing.

Read Biden’s full op-ed here.

A separate article in the New York Times last weekend noted that Biden had supported China’s increasing global role, in the hope “of transforming China through trade.”

Biden was a “strong supporter” of China entering the World Trade Organization in 2000, the Times noted.

“Two decades later, China has emerged as a great power — and, in the eyes of many Americans, a dangerous rival,” the Times noted.

Biden continued downplaying the threat of China in his 2020 primary campaign, before pushback from both parties prompted him to take a tougher line.

Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, traveled with him to China on Air Force Two in 2014 and returned with a investment deal worth $1.5 billion, despite having no previous experience in finance.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.