Biden on China: "They're not competition for us"

Our thought bubble, per Axios' Joe Uchill: While Biden may be right that resource management could cap China's potential, that hasn't stopped the country from stealing billions of dollars in intellectual property through cyber and other means, providing stiff competition in tech fields — in part, due to stolen intellectual property — and investing threatening amounts in emerging fields like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. In telecom equipment, China has 2 of the top 5 companies in the world, with Huawei being No. 1.

Axios' National Political Reporter Jonathan Swan weighed in as well saying Biden’s is not a view shared by leaders of either party in Washington, or by national security leaders. One of the rare things Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and President Trump agree on is that China is a rising, increasingly urgent threat to the U.S.

The context: Biden has made similar comments before. At a Democratic campaign event in Florida in October 2018, Biden said the U.S. is "better positioned than any nation in the world to own the 21st century," adding that China is "a divided country in 1,000 ways ... Don't tell me China's going to own America. It's not possible."

• Biden's campaign declined to comment on Wednesday's statement.

Go deeper: China is the greatest, growing threat to America