Campaigning in Iowa City on Wednesday former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that the world's No. 2 economy is not a threat to the United States.

The politician who came out of retirement to compete for the Democratic nomination said the Chinese are too busy straitening out regional issues and internal corruption to pose a threat to the United States' global hegemony.

'China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,' Biden said at an event on his first swing through Iowa. 'I mean, you know, they're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not a — they're not competition for us.'

Campaigning in Iowa City on Wednesday former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that the world's No. 2 economy is not a threat to the United States

The remarks prompted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who correctly predicted that Russia would become a major challenger to the U.S., to warn Biden, 'This will not age well'

The remarks prompted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who correctly predicted that Russia would become a major challenger to the U.S., to warn Biden, 'This will not age well.'

Democratic competitor Bernie Sanders told Biden that he's 'wrong' in a tweet that accused China of siphoning off 3 million jobs from American workers.

President Donald Trump had yet to respond to the claim as of Thursday morning, having switched the focus of his Twitter account from Biden to praise for the performance on Capitol Hill of Attorney General William Barr.

He had spent a large chuck on of Wednesday morning taking aim at Biden's endorsement from a firefighters association.

Biden addressed concerns about China's rising influence during a Wednesday campaign rally in a predominately rural state that's heavily affected by the trade war between Washington and Beijing.

Chinese State media placed ads in an influential Iowa newspaper last fall in an attempt to turn public opinion against President Donald Trump's tariffs on Beijing's goods. He subsequently accused the communist nation of election meddling at a United Nation's Security Council meeting.

His ire diluted and Trump's administration's claimed this week that a trade deal with China that will minimize a massive trade deficit between the world's largest standalone economies is near completion.

Trump has accused the foreign nation of taking advantage of the U.S. and its leaders, like Biden's former boss and two-term President Barack Obama.

In Iowa City, Biden attempted to capitalize on his experience in the White House by reminding a crowd that he served as vice president for eight years and oversaw the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before that.

He repeated a line he's been using for many years about his experience at the forefront of America's foreign affairs.

'I've met virtually every major world leader...over the last 30 years, and that's not hyperbole, virtually every one,' he said.

Biden claimed that he does not 'know a single solitary one who would not change places with the problems the United States has' versus the problems they have.

'China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. They can't even figure out how to deal with, the fact that they have this great division between the China Sea and the mountains in the East, I mean in the West,' he said.

He added, 'They can't figure out how they're going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system.

The ex-senator then claimed that China is 'not competition for us' in the off-the-cuff remarks that came as he wandered back and forth across the stage.

Biden was referring to the conflict in the South China Sea and pervasive corruption inside the communist country's government.

The remark was immediately swatted down by Sanders, who is a front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination for president.

'Since the China trade deal I voted against, America has lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs. It’s wrong to pretend that China isn’t one of our major economic competitors,' he tweeted. 'When we are in the White House we will win that competition by fixing our trade policies.'