President Joe Biden implied that a Chinese economic decline could be good news for Taiwan during remarks at a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, when asked about reports of China's economic struggles.

"You recently called China's economy a 'ticking time bomb,'" a reporter said. "Do you believe the country's slowdown in growth could risk destabilizing the global economy or cause China to be more aggressive defensively, including with Taiwan?"

HOUSE REPUBLICANS RETURN TO MESSY APPROPRIATIONS FIGHT AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN LOOMS

Biden said he did not.

"I think China has a difficult economic problem right now for a whole range of reasons that relate to international growth and lack thereof and the policies that China has followed," he said. "I don't think it's going to cause China to invade Taiwan; matter of fact, the opposite. It probably didn't have the same capacity that it had before."

Biden followed that up by emphasizing that he's not looking to hurt China.

"Sincerely," he said. "We're all better off if China does well."

China's economy has barely grown this year, and in July, prices fell by 0.3%, a situation known as deflation that shows the country's economy is sputtering. Gross domestic product in China is also slowing, and there is speculation it continue to struggle in the coming decades.

Some have speculated that the situation could make Chinese President Xi Jinping more likely to invade Taiwan if he thinks his own country will be weaker in the future.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

But Biden, who often describes himself as an optimist, thinks that a sluggish economy could deter China from any ambitions it has to invade its neighbor, though he stressed that he still wants to engage with the country economically.

“We’re not looking to decouple from China," he said. "What I'm not going to do is, I'm not going to sell China material that would enhance their capacity to make more nuclear weapons to engage in defense activities."