A new documentary has claimed that business activity in China conducted by Hunter Biden, son of the US Democratic presidential nominee, under President Barack Obama, served Beijing's "strategic interests" and may have damaged US national security.
The 41-minute film, called "Riding the Dragon: The Bidens' Chinese Secrets", was posted by the Blaze TV network on YouTube in six segments earlier this week. Joe Biden's election campaign has not commented on the issue yet.
"This explosive documentary uncovers the business deals, financial transactions, and secret agreements that took place between Hunter Biden's businesses and the Chinese government, all while Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States", a Blaze TV trailer to the documentary underlines.
Narrated by best-selling writer Peter Schweizer, the movie specifically features several deals that Hunter Biden was involved in as a board member of the Beijing-based investment company BHR Partners.
The agreements include a 2015 joint venture between BHR Partners and AVIC Auto, a subsidiary of the state-run Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC), which manufactures aircraft for the Chinese military.
The deal stipulated purchasing the US autoparts maker Henniges Automotive which is thought to make "dual-use" products for both civilian and military purposes.
The film also highlights BHR's investment in the China General Nuclear Power Corp., the former state-run power company, in 2014.
The documentary argues that Hunter Biden was only able to meet Chinese officials and secure at least $1 billion in funding "because of who his father was: vice president of the United States" and then-President Barack Obama's "point person on US policy towards China".
Schweizer, in turn, claimed in the documentary that "Hunter's new firm […] began making investment deals around the world that would serve the strategic interests of the Chinese government" and those of "the Chinese military".
The film was released after the former US vice president's son was embroiled in a major scandal last year after Republicans accused him of accepting a cushy $50,000-a-month job with a Ukrainian energy company in 2014 in exchange for access to the White House under then-US President Barack Obama. The Biden family has vehemently denied the allegations.
