President Joe Biden boasted of his close relationship with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping on Friday, claiming he has spent more time with him than any other world leader.
“Not a joke … I’ve had hours and hours and hours of meetings and personal conversations with Xi Jinping,” Biden said during a speech at a daycare center in Connecticut. “I’ve spent more time with him, I believe, than any other world leader has.”
Biden pointedly noted that he had spent a lot of time with Xi when he was vice president and also has also spoken with him a lot on the phone since he took office.
“Every time he calls and we talk, now it’s a conversation between an hour and a half and two and a half hours,” Biden said. “Not a joke. My word.”
It’s unclear why Biden made the claim that he had spent more time with Xi than any other leader, but he has a record of hyperbolic statements when it comes to their relationship.
Biden repeatedly claims he spent 17,000 miles traveling with Xi, a claim that has been reported false by fact-checkers.
Biden commented as he recounted his ongoing belief that President Xi and other world autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin believed that America and democracies in general could no longer lead the world because of a lack of consensus.
Biden’s outlook on China has changed significantly since before he ran for president in 2020.
“I hear these stories about how China is going to eat our lunch. Give me a break!” he said in March 2019.
Even after kicking off his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden continued scoffing at the idea.
“China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,” Biden said on the campaign trail in Iowa in May 2019.
“I mean, you know, they’re not bad folks, folks, But guess what? They’re not competition for us,” he continued.
After Biden took office, however, he warned that China would surpass the United States if the government did not spend more money.
“If we don’t get moving, they’re going to eat our lunch,” Biden said in February. “We just have to step up.”