By The National Archives has released a collection of photos showing then-Vice President Joe Biden meeting with two Chinese business figures connected to his son, Hunter Biden. The images raise new questions about President Biden’s past denials of any interactions with his family’s foreign business partners.
These photos, obtained through a lawsuit filed by the America First Legal Foundation, document moments from Biden’s December 2013 trip to Beijing. One notable image shows then-Vice President Biden introducing Hunter to Chinese President Xi Jinping during an official diplomatic visit. Reports indicate that Biden and Xi spent approximately seven hours together, far exceeding their originally planned two-hour meeting.
A couple days ago I covered for @NRO the photos released by @America1stLegal showing Joe Biden introducing Hunter to Xi Jinping, and Hunter introducing Joe to his Chinese business partners. https://t.co/TAy39PTqUN pic.twitter.com/qpdpfovnSF
— James Lynch (@jameslynch32) December 27, 2024
The release of these photos follows delays reportedly caused by legal representatives for both Biden and former President Obama, who sought to postpone their publication until after the 2024 election cycle.
Fox News writes that the photos, obtained by conservative-leaning America First Legal through litigation against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), appear to show then-Vice President Biden introducing his son to Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-Vice President Li Yuanchao. Other photos show Joe Biden posing with Hunter’s business associates from BHR Partners, including Jonathan Li and Ming Xue.
“These images shed light on the connections between then-Vice President Biden, Hunter and his Chinese business associates, and Chinese government officials including President Xi Jinping,” America First Legal said in a press release this week.
“These photos corroborate the House Oversight Committee’s investigative findings that Hunter Biden arranged for his father to meet with Jonathan Li and other BHR executives during the 2013 China trip, where ‘Mr. Li sought— and received — access to Vice President Biden’s political power, including, for example, preferential access to then-U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus … a condition of Hunter Biden and his associates participating in the BHR deal,’” America First Legal wrote.
Hunter Biden was asked earlier this year by the House Oversight Committee about his meetings while traveling to Asia with his father.
“When we returned from an event to the hotel, there was a rope line, and Jonathan Li was in the lobby of the hotel where I was going to meet him for coffee,” Hunter Biden said at the time. “In that line, I introduced my dad to Jonathan Li and a friend of his, and they shook hands and I believe probably took a photograph. And then my father went up to his room, and I went to have coffee with Jonathan Li.”
Hunter later referred to this Beijing trip in emails to his associate Devon Archer, calling it a pivotal moment for their business endeavors, according to The New York Post. Just days after the Biden family’s visit, BHR Partners was officially registered. The firm would later become involved in significant international deals, including the 2016 acquisition of a Congolese cobalt mine—a critical resource for electric vehicle batteries.
Complicating the situation further are reports that Joe Biden wrote college recommendation letters for Li’s children and allegedly joined calls with Hunter’s business partners on subsequent occasions.
For years, Republicans have accused Biden of downplaying his involvement in his son’s foreign business activities. However, the president has consistently denied these claims. In a March interview, Biden firmly told The Post, “I did not interact with their partners.”
The photos came after Biden gave his son a blanket pardon for his misdeeds going back over a decade. Hunter Biden was initially set to be sentenced on December 12 for his conviction on federal gun charges and again on December 16 in a separate case after pleading guilty to federal tax evasion charges in September.
However, President Biden issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for any offenses Hunter Biden “committed or may have committed or taken part in” between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024, according to a White House statement.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” Biden said. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”
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