U.S. Vice President Joe Biden used a speech on foreign policy Wednesday to dismiss concerns over China's economic strength.
Speaking to a group of Air Force graduates, Biden acknowledged China is "graduating six to eight times as many scientists and engineers as we have."
But he said: "I challenge you, name me one innovative project, one innovative change, one innovative product that has come out of China."
Biden referenced the 1990s, when he said many people in the U.S. feared a rising Japan would "eat our lunch, that Japan was the future."
He implied China has replaced Japan as the new economic challenger to the U.S., while noting he hopes both China and Japan succeed.
China is widely expected later this decade to overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest economy, in terms of gross domestic product.
But despite decades of rapid growth, China's economy faces huge challenges, including wide income inequality, corruption, and pollution.