CHINA/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Donald Trump’s campaign is itching to take on Joe Biden over his pro-free trade past and his comments downplaying the China threat — an issue Republicans see as especially potent in critical Rust Belt states where Trump is struggling and the former vice president has strength. But in interviews with POLITICO, several current and former Biden aides said his recent rhetoric calling fears of China’s rise overblown was no gaffe. They say Biden relishes going to battle with Trump over China, certain that his message of confidence in American might will prevail over Trump’s alarmist rhetoric and tariff-driven trade war with Beijing…How to manage the rise of China is one of the trickiest and most important foreign policy issues in the 2020 race, one that affects voters’ wallets while also speaking to grander, even existential questions about America’s global standing. It has caused divisions within both the Democratic Party and the GOP, pitting protectionists against free-traders. Biden is in a unique spot. He has spent significant time with China’s leaders, and his long foreign policy track record as a senator and vice president offers lots of fodder — sometimes the same fodder — for friends and foes alike on China.”
–Nahal Toosi, “Biden girds for clash with Trump over China,” Politico, June 5, 2019 2:14 pm