Biden says he'll check China's growing ambitions

President Joe Biden says China's ambition of becoming the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world is "not going to happen under my watch."

Biden said at his first formal news conference as president that he'd look to help counter China's rise by increasing American investment in science and research.

It's an area where he says China is thriving while the U.S. hasn't kept pace.

The president also says he's made clear to Chinese leader Xi Jinping that the United States will continue to call out Beijing in an "unrelenting way" on human rights violations.

Biden said he made it clear to Xi that "no American president ever backed down from speaking out" on human rights violations. He then said, "Well, one did," referring to his predecessor, Donald Trump.

Biden also said the relationship between the U.S. and China is symbolic of a larger issue, "autocracy or democracy, because that is what is at stake."