2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said China has made “more progress in addressing extreme poverty than any country” in history during a Hill.TV interview Tuesday.

While the Independent Vermont senator acknowledged how the country has become “more authoritarian” in recent years instead of more Democratic, he also praised the communist country for its success in helping its poor citizens.

“China is a country that is moving unfortunately in a more authoritarian way in a number of directions,” Sanders told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball. “But what we have to say about China in fairness … is, if I’m not mistaken, they have made more progress in addressing extreme poverty than any country in the history of civilization, so they’ve done a lot of things for their people.”

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America Rising Communications director Chris Martin told the Daily Caller News Foundation, “Leave it to a self-avowed socialist like Bernie Sanders to downplay the threat China poses to America and praise the actions of a Communist regime.”

“He’s propping up the same failed status quo that allowed China to manipulate their currency and steal up to $600 billion in intellectual property from American companies,” he added.

Sanders also told Ball he would not use the words “existential threat” to describe China’s relationship with the United States.

“Their economy now is struggling, but I think it is absolutely possible for us to have a positive working relationship with China,” he said.

The poverty rate in China, measured by citizens living on less than $1.90 a day, has decreased significantly from 88% in the 1980s to .7% 2015, the National Review reported, citing to the World Bank.

At the end of 2017, 12.89 million people living in rural areas of China were lifted out of poverty, but 30.46 million rural people of the country’s 1.386 billion-person population, still fell below the poverty line, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The Democratic socialist tweeted support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong on Aug. 19, saying, “The demonstrations in Hong Kong are an inspiration to us all. It is the right of all people to protest for a better future. We stand with these brave protesters and call on the Chinese government to refrain from violence.”

The demonstrations in Hong Kong are an inspiration to us all. It is the right of all people to protest for a better future. We stand with these brave protesters and call on the Chinese government to refrain from violence. pic.twitter.com/4oESjzBmlw — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 19, 2019

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