Records released by a former Biden family business partner reveal that Joe Biden's brother and son proposed connecting a Chinese billionaire affiliated with Beijing's military and intelligence services with top elected Democrats to advance Chinese investments in critical U.S. infrastructure. In doing so, say China experts, the former vice president and his family endangered U.S. national security.
On Thursday, Tony Bobulinski provided the FBI with
records of his business correspondence with James and Hunter Biden, the brother
and son of the former vice president. Bobulinski was CEO of SinoHawk, which he
describes as a joint venture partnership between the Biden family and
Chinese firms connected to the government. The documents, acquired by Just
The News, appear to show the Bidens' efforts to use the family's name to sell
influence to Chinese individuals tied to China's military and spy services.
In July 2017, the now-bankrupt China Energy and
Finance Company offered to extend the Bidens a $5
million "interest-free" loan "based on their trust on
[Biden] family[.]" The chairman of CEFC was Ye Jianming, who
according to the New York Times, has extensive ties to the Chinese military and
its intelligence service. The 43-year-old Ye has been held in detention by the
Chinese government since 2018 for "economic crimes."
Hunter Biden reportedly met Ye in a Miami hotel in
May 2017. In a May 15 email, James Biden listed a number of prospective
contacts for joint ventures involving SinoHawk and CEFC. The roster of
elite Democratic elected officials includes Biden's running mate Kamala Harris,
as well as two other former 2020 presidential hopefuls, Amy Klobuchar and
Kirsten Gillibrand.
The list of prospective New York Democratic contacts
for CEFC includes Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio,
and Sen. Charles Schumer. The California list features Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
whose husband's business dealings with the Chinese Communist Party have earned
him millions over the last several decades. Feinstein enjoyed a long friendship
with the late Chinese premier, Jiang Zemin.
Other senior California lawmakers the Bidens planned
to introduce to CEFC include Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, as well as former
San Francisco mayor, now California governor, Gavin Newsom — "Hunter's
friend," James Biden notes in the email.
"The relationship with Joe Biden would have
given the Chinese access to the highest levels of power, partly for influence
and partly to embed the Chinese Communist Party into every aspect of society,"
says retired Gen. Robert Spalding, author of "Stealth War: How China Took
Over While America's Elite Slept."
But the Bidens offered more than just contacts with
senior U.S. political figures.
In a Whatsapp exchange from spring 2017, Bobulinski
asked Hunter Biden if Ye was "just doing infrastructure and RE or looking
@ technology deals." Biden replied: "Everything. The only thing I
told him I would not do is defense related technology and arms and anything
that would give the Chinese a military advantage."
However, China experts say that Beijing understands
its national security needs in a much broader context. While Washington tends
to see national security strictly in military terms, "infrastructure is a
priority for the Chinese," says Asia expert Maura Moynihan.
Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, Moynihan notes,
is a global infrastructure project. "To defeat their main rival,
America," she says, "the Chinese want to control America on the
ground, and they do that through controlling American infrastructure."
In James Biden's May 17 memo, he identifies vital
infrastructure and transportation nodes as prospective "phase one
target" projects. He notes that Cuomo "is moving forward with
major infrastructure projects such as the long-stalled Tappan Zee Bridge replacement
and the much-needed redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport." The
President of New York City Economic Development Corporation, Maria
Torres-Springer, "drives the physical transformation of New York
City, completes major infrastructure upgrades, and encourages the creation of
new residential and commercial districts," Biden explains.
According to James Biden, Minnesota offered a
particularly appealing target project — the state's freight and passenger rail
system. "Minnesota is in process for its mandated five-year
update," he wrote. "Minnesota's passenger and freight rail
improvement strategy will be detailed, including Minnesota's passenger and
freight rail impact on the economy, the state's ability to meet national
passenger and freight rail goals, and the economic factors that increase growth
and competitive edge."
Spalding warns that the Bidens' proposed phase one
projects endangered U.S. national security. "From the Chinese perspective,
the offer would have given them access to strategic infrastructure in the
United States, which would have given them the ability to shut it down,"
he says. "Also, giving the Chinese a role in the transportation sector
would allow them to collect information on Americans."
The Biden presidential campaign and Hunter Biden's
attorney did not respond immediately to request for comment from the Just the
News.
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