Politics

Biden Flip-Flops On China Concerns

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Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden said he would renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, mentioning the importance of America writing the rules.

Biden recently said China was not a threat to the U.S., but changed his tune at a presidential debate Wednesday evening. He said China will be in charge of the rules on trade if America isn’t and noted the U.S. needs to “hold China accountable.”

WATCH:

“I’d renegotiate [the Trans-Pacific Partnership],” Biden said. “Either China’s gonna write the rules of the road for the 21st century on trade, or we are. … We must have the rest of the world join us to keep them in check from abusing.”

This is a change of tune for the former vice president, who said in May that China isn’t “competition for us.” (RELATED: Biden Attempts To Walk Back China’s ‘Not Competition’ Remarks)

“China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,” Biden said at an Iowa event in May. “They’re not competition for us.”

The moderator turned to the topic of war. Biden said he “did make a mistake” in voting to go to war, blaming it on “trusting the president.”

“From the moment shock and awe started, from that moment I was opposed to the effort and I was out-spoken as much as anyone at all in the Congress and administration,” he said.

Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard responded to Biden, saying that “we were all lied to.” Gabbard previously served in Iraq and accused President Donald Trump of supporting al-Qaeda Wednesday.

WATCH:

“We were all lied to,” Gabbard said. “This is the betrayal. This is the betrayal to the American people, to me, to my fellow service members. We were lied to — told that [former Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was working with al-Qaeda and that this posed a threat to the American people.”

“I enlisted after 9/11 to protect our country, to go after those who attacked on us on that fateful day. … The problem is that this current president is continuing to betray us,” she continued. “We were supposed to be going after al-Qaeda.”

“But over years now not only have we not gone after al-Qaeda, who is stronger today than they were in 9/11, our president is supporting al-Qaeda,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard said she would “end wasteful regime wars” and work to de-escalate tensions with other countries.

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