Newly released pictures show then-Vice President Joe Biden meeting some of his son Hunter Biden's Chinese business partners during an official visit to the country. This is the first time these images have been made public, even though the photo ops and meetings they depict have been known about for years. In one set of images, Joe Biden is seen, along with his father, meeting and chatting with Xi Jinping.
In another set of images, Joe Biden introduces his son to Li Yuanchao, who was China's vice president at the time. Another group of pictures shows Hunter Biden introducing his father to his Chinese business partners, some of whom were executives at the private equity firm BHR Partners. After handshakes and hugs, the Bidens posed for a group picture with a few of the Chinese businessmen. These images are notable because they further undercut Joe Biden's already-diminished unequivocal assertions that he never had any business-related contact with his son. In fact, the House Republicans' impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden uncovered at least two dozen interactions between him and his son's business partners from China and other countries. However, Hunter Biden and others involved have testified that — despite occasional phone calls, meet-and-greets and dinners with Joe Biden — business was never substantively discussed. Hunter Biden's former main US business partner later testified that Hunter was selling the 'illusion' of access to his father, but 'nothing of material was discussed' during these interactions.Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell criticised the Trump-aligned groups that fought to obtain and release the images, saying in a statement, 'There is simply nothing new here