Biden calls China “ticking time bomb” facing economic challenges

U.S. President Joe Biden has described China as a “ticking time bomb” in many areas, citing economic challenges such as high employment and slowing growth, even as his administration seeks to defuse tensions with the Asian power, a White House transcript released Friday showed.

“China is in trouble,” Biden told a political fundraising event in Utah on Thursday, according to the transcript. “That’s not good,” he added, “because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things.”

His remarks came despite Washington holding increased high-level exchanges recently with Beijing after months of heigh...