• On Thursday, US Pres. Joe Biden described China as a "ticking time bomb," because of its weak economic growth, high unemployment, and the country's aging population. Guardian (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• Biden stated that, despite the US wanting a rational relationship with Beijing, the nation has, "got some problems." He continued, saying: "That's not good because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things." Global Times
• Biden's remarks come after he signed an executive order prohibiting new US investments in Chinese technology that might be used by Beijing to modernize its military, such as computer chips. CBS (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• Though Biden said China is growing at 2% annually, data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed that the economy grew 4.5% in the first quarter and 6.3% in the second. Reuters (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• However, the PRC's economy has already slipped into deflation, as the consumer price index for July dropped to -0.3% while the producer price index fell by 4.4% compared to a year prior. Sky News
• Meanwhile, China's exports fell by 14.5% in July compared with a year earlier, while imports dropped 12.4%. BBC News (LR: 3 CP: 5)

Pro-China narrative:

• The Biden administration continues to engage in the unfortunate escalation of strategic competition between the US and the PRC. Due to ideological fears, the US is continuing to attempt to isolate China economically from the rest of the world. As anxiety-driven US overreactions to China and its inevitable growth will only fuel tensions and global danger, Washington's continued hostility towards Beijing benefits nobody.
  Chinadaily.com.cn

Anti-China narrative:

• While its economy was to be envied two years ago, China is struggling today. Xi Jinping's erratic behavior and erroneous zero COVID policy have stunted China's growth. Though the country's economy is in shambles, China still poses a credible threat to the global order, and it doesn't take a xenophobe to be worried about the international influence of an increasingly autocratic state.
  New York Times (LR: 2 CP: 5)

Nerd narrative:

• There's a 20% chance that there will be a US-China war before 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
  Metaculus (LR: 3 CP: 3)