Biden Claims 'Putin Trying to Destroy NATO', Slams China's 'Hegemonic' Ambitions

The former vice president, who has been dropping hints recently about making a run for the presidency, urged Washington's allies to come together to engage in a new great "competition of systems" between the West and "authoritarian powers."

In an address reminiscent of Winston Churchill's speech at Fulton, Missouri at the dawn of the Cold War, Biden attacked America's great power competitors, accusing them of sowing values that oppose those of the West.

"We're navigating a new relationship with a rising China, and a declining but aggressive Russia. China seeks to establish itself as a hegemon and a global power broker, and Russia is using every tool at its disposal to destabilize and sow discord," Biden said, speaking at Chatham House.

While accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of having the "ultimate goal" of the "dissolution of NATO and the European Union, rather than the reestablishment of the Soviet Union," Biden claimed that the Russian president would "rather deal with individual nations he can try to strong-arm than a unified democratic West."

The challenge of Russia and China, according to the former vice president, is not just one of great power competition, but a battle "of systems."

"It isn't quite a competition among powers; it's a competition of systems, a competition of values," Biden insisted. 

"China and Russia and other authoritarian powers also seek to shape a new 'international rules of the road' that could be inconsistent with our values and are likely to be inconsistent with our values and antithetical to our interests, especially around economic domains such as trade, data security, intellectual property and energy rights," he added.

Accusing the Russian and Chinese political systems of being based on an "autocratic model," and of using "cutting edge technologies" to "spread disinformation around the globe," Biden charged the countries with "meddling in free societies," and attempting "to sow chaos and influence political outcomes."

Calling on the Transatlantic community to "rally together," Biden stressed that "the fight for the future has already begun, and it's a fight that we have to win. We're at an inflection point in our societies and in world history right now."

Praising the European Union and NATO, Biden went after President Trump for "treating alliances like protection rackets, and questioning our central commitments to one another," which he said was "not only irresponsible, it is incredibly dangerous."  Both the UK and the US were presently facing threats including "phony nationalism, populism and xenophobia," according to the former vice president.

As vice president, Joe Biden consistently urged President Barack Obama to toughen his stance on Russia. Earlier this year, he admitted that Washington had to strong-arm its European partners into imposing economic sanctions on Moscow during the Ukrainian crisis in 2014.

In August, a new poll revealed that Biden might defeat Donald Trump if he ran in 2020. Trump called Biden a "dream" opponent, and noted that Biden had run and lost three times in the past before Obama "took him out of the garbage heap" to serve as his vice president.