Newly released photographs obtained by America First Legal (AFL) have reignited scrutiny over President Joe Biden’s connections to Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings. The images, obtained through AFL’s lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), appear to show then-Vice President Joe Biden meeting with Hunter’s Chinese business associates, including key figures tied to the Chinese government.

The photos, which AFL shared on social media today, include Joe Biden introducing Hunter and his associate to Chinese President Xi Jinping during an official 2013 trip to Beijing. This trip, initially billed as a diplomatic mission, is now under a magnifying glass as questions swirl about whether Joe Biden leveraged his political position to benefit Hunter’s business ventures.

/1 BREAKING

AFL has obtained new photos of Joe Biden meeting with Hunter Biden’s Chinese business associates and introducing Hunter to China’s President Xi Jinping. pic.twitter.com/SB13yaXiXv

— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) December 23, 2024

The images reportedly capture meetings between Joe Biden and executives from BHR Partners, a private equity firm co-founded by Hunter Biden. According to AFL, the photographs also corroborate findings from the House Oversight Committee, which earlier this year revealed that Hunter Biden facilitated introductions between his father and BHR executives, including CEO Jonathan Li and Managing Partner Ming Xue.

/9 Joe Biden also appeared to meet with the Director and Managing Partner of BHR Partners, Ming Xue. pic.twitter.com/bVqYN3DpjX

— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) December 23, 2024

In February, the Oversight Committee disclosed that Hunter Biden had traveled with his father on Air Force Two to Beijing, where Jonathan Li sought political access. “Mr. Li sought—and received—access to Vice President Biden’s political power,” the committee alleged, citing preferential access to then-U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus as an example. AFL also pointed to emails found on Hunter Biden’s laptop and testimony from his former business partner, Devon Archer, which suggest that Joe Biden wrote letters of recommendation for Li’s children.

AFL claims that NARA initially planned to release the photographs on October 23, just days before the 2024 presidential election. However, legal representatives for Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama allegedly delayed the release, ensuring the materials became public only after Election Day. According to AFL, 182 of the 313 photographs processed by NARA remain withheld, prompting the group to vow continued legal action. The Biden family’s relationship with BHR has drawn significant attention. In one instance highlighted by the Oversight Committee, Hunter allegedly received a $250,000 “loan” from Jonathan Li, which Hunter did not repay. Instead, the debt was reportedly covered by Democratic donor Kevin Morris.

/14 Even so, the Biden-Harris Administration is preventing the release of 182 of the 313 photographs that NARA processed. pic.twitter.com/qqWEwbsYbK

— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) December 23, 2024

The Biden administration has long maintained that the President was uninvolved in his son’s dealings. However, subpoenaed bank records obtained by the House Oversight Committee indicate that in 2019, Hunter received wire transfers from Chinese nationals, with Joe Biden’s Delaware address listed as the beneficiary address. Hunter’s legal team has claimed this as an administrative detail, citing the use of his parents’ home as his permanent address at the time.

Further investigations have highlighted financial connections between the Biden family and a Chinese energy company, with reports showing millions of dollars distributed to accounts linked to Hunter and his associates. A House Oversight report earlier this year outlined a series of transactions totaling $10 million, tracing funds through a web of entities associated with foreign businesses, including those in China.

On December 1, Joe Biden issued a sweeping pardon for his son Hunter, covering federal offenses from 2014 to 2024, citing political motivations behind his prosecution.

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A quarter of openings among the top 20 “new economy” job types on Maimai this year through October were directly related to AI, the company revealed in a report published this week. Related roles include algorithm engineer, AI engineer, recommendation algorithm engineer, large language model (LLM) specialist, and natural language processing expert.

Cloud computing remains the tightest market, with a supply-demand ratio of 0.27, or roughly four job openings per qualified candidate. Search algorithms follow closely with a ratio of 0.39, or more than two openings per candidate.

AI has emerged as a bright spot in a bleak domestic job market in China’s “new economy”, a term used to describe high-growth sectors such as information technology, healthcare and renewable energy.

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Beijing hosts World Robot Conference as China eyes expanding humanoid robot market

Beijing hosts World Robot Conference as China eyes expanding humanoid robot market

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Retail sales in China missed expectations in November, adding to pressure on policymakers as they battle to boost momentum in the world’s second-largest economy.

The consumption gauge added 3 per cent year-on-year, below a forecast of 4.6 per cent in a Reuters poll, and last month’s rise of 4.8 per cent. Industrial production added 5.4 per cent, slightly above predictions.

The unexpectedly weaker growth comes days after Chinese Communist party leaders called for “vigorous” efforts to boost consumption and showed signs of a greater focus on domestic demand at the annual Central Economic Work Conference.

Beijing has struggled to boost confidence against the backdrop of a property slowdown, now entering its fourth year, and bouts of deflation. The government unveiled a series of measures to boost stock markets in late September and to refinance local government debt last month.

Chinese equities fell on Monday morning. The CSI 300 index of blue-chip mainland-listed companies was down 0.6 per cent by mid-morning, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.4 per cent. China’s 10-year sovereign bond yield fell 0.05 percentage points to 1.73 per cent and its 30-year yield fell below 2 per cent for the first time.

The conference’s work report last week listed consumption as the first of nine economic priorities for 2025, ahead of the “new productive forces” that have emerged as a core pillar of President Xi Jinping’s approach.

The emphasis is one of several signs of growing urgency from the government, including a shift in its monetary policy stance to “moderately loose” from “prudent” for the first time in over a decade last week.

Consumer prices in November rose just 0.2 per cent, a five-month low. Prices have increased every month since January, but growth has remained close to deflationary territory, adding to concerns over the strength of domestic demand.

Consumer spending was an economic concern in China during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the government imposed strict lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus, and has failed to bounce back fully since a reopening almost two years ago.

Beijing has set a growth target of about 5 per cent for 2024, which Xi last week pledged to meet, saying that China would continue “to play its role as the world’s largest economic growth engine”.

Property investment is down 10.4 per cent in the 11 months to the end of November, the National Bureau of Statistics said, compared with a fall of 10.3 per cent in the first 10 months.

BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese leaders met this week to plot economic policy for the coming year, sketching out plans to raise government spending and relax Beijing’s monetary policy to encourage more investment and consumer spending.

Leaders of the ruling Communist Party wrapped up their two-day Central Economic Work Conference on Thursday with praise for President Xi Jinping’s guidance and a pledge to “enrich and refine the policy toolbox” and defuse risks facing the world’s second-largest economy. One of the biggest: threats by President-elect Donald Trump to sharply raise tariffs on imports from China once he takes office.

Here’s a look at the priorities outlined in this week’s meetings in Beijing and their potential implications.

A focus on fundamentals

Analysts said the broad-brush plans from the annual Central Economic Work Conference and an earlier meeting of the 24-member Politburo were more of a recap of current policy than any ambitious new initiatives.

China’s economy has been growing slightly more slowly than the “about 5%” target leaders set for this year as a prolonged crisis in its real estate sector has weighed on business activity. Weaker housing prices and job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic have left many Chinese unable or unwilling to spend as much as they may have in the past. That has meant supplies of many goods outstrip demand, causing prices to fall or at least remain flat.

The government began rolling out a range of initiatives earlier this year that included paying subsidies when people turn in old appliances and vehicles to buy new ones, expanding access to affordable housing and cutting interest rates to make mortgages more affordable.

According to a readout by the official Xinhua News Agency, the leaders agreed this week to put “greater emphasis on ensuring and improving the people’s well-being and giving people a growing sense of fulfilment, happiness and security.”

That includes policies to stop people from relapsing into poverty, providing a stronger healthcare system and expanding care for older people, it said. It could also include subsidies to families to encourage them to have more children, now that the population is declining.

Who pays, and how?

The leaders committed to raising China’s deficit, which has been long capped at 3% of its GDP, and to doing more to encourage consumer spending by bringing wage increases in line with the pace of economic growth. The government will issue more special ultra-long-term bonds to do that, state media said without giving any dollar amounts.

At the national level, China can afford to do that. Its national debt-to-GDP level is about 68%, compared with Japan’s 250% and 120% in the United States. At the local level, huge amounts of debt remain a problem, with many Chinese workers going under- or unpaid. City and regional governments are deeply in debt after their tax revenues fell due to the property crisis and the pandemic, while spending continued to rise.

Details of any increased spending may emerge later, possibly during the national legislative session in March, analysts said.

Easier credit for investment and housing purchases

Earlier this week, the Politburo endorsed plans to pursue “moderately loose” monetary policies, rather than the “prudent” stance that had prevailed for the past decade.

The last time China adopted that approach was in 2008-2010, when the central bank eased credit aggressively as an antidote to the shocks of the global financial crisis, noted Tao Wang of UBS.

Earlier this year, the People’s Bank of China began cutting interest rates and the required reserves banks must keep on deposit, and is expected to cut rates further in coming months, Wang said.

Cheaper credit would make it easier to finance purchases of housing and other investments as the central bank plays a growing role in helping keep markets stable and boosting the economy.

Expectations of lower interest rates have caused bond prices to soar. But overall, investors who were hoping for more details of planned policies appeared disappointed with the outcome of the week’s meetings. On Friday, the Shanghai Composite index fell 2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 2.1%.

Overall, a cautious approach as China awaits Trump’s second term

Xi’s longer-term blueprint for building an innovative, high-quality modern economy remains the framework for China’s future course as leaders fine-tune policy details while watching to see what Trump does once he takes office.

As the U.S. and o ther trading partners have imposed ever tighter controls on China’s access to advanced technology, such as the latest computer chips and the tools and materials to make them, Beijing has retaliated with its own targeted measures.

Economists say China’s leaders are holding back on more drastic moves to support the economy, which is growing at a reasonably fast pace despite its chronic weaknesses, as they wait to see what happens.

‘Chinese authorities have been stuck in a more reactionary policy mode, as the uncertainty of U.S. tariff plans makes it difficult for policymakers to make any commitment just yet,” Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report. “There may still be room for positive surprises, but much will lie in any upcoming policy specifics.”