Then-Vice President Biden expressed support for engagement with China in a 2011 speech, citing his niece Casey Owens’ experience living and studying in China.
Owens had recently concluded her role assisting the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Treasury Department.
“And your remarks. That was really something else, Uncle Joe. What a way to exit the Treasury,” Owens said. “I’m simply happy to be close to you, and I just wanted to say thank you for including me.”
Biden highlighted the Obama administration’s goal of increasing American students studying in China to 100,000.
Owens’ emails from her Treasury role indicate she provided information to Hunter Biden about meetings with Chinese investment funds.
“We cannot claim the same number of Americans in China, but our 100,000 Strong Initiative will dramatically increase the number of young Americans living and studying in China,” Biden said.
“As a matter of fact, my niece who — excuse me, as we say in the Senate, a point a personal privilege — who graduated from Harvard not too long ago, works for Secretary Geithner, she did exactly what we hope another 100,000 will do: She studied Chinese and went and lived in China and is now devoted to making sure the relationship gets better and better and better.”
“As a young member of a Foreign Relations Committee, I wrote and I said and I believed then what I believe now: That a rising China is a positive, positive development, not only for China but for America and the world writ large,” Biden said.
“Our U.S.-China relationship must extend beyond the halls of government to our homes, our businesses, and our schools,” Hillary Clinton said at the time. “And these exchanges really offer the opportunity for people to connect and collaborate, and they remind us of how much we have in common.”
Owens left Treasury in 2011 but her father also contacted Hunter Biden in 2014 seeking help to quickly obtain a Chinese business license, demonstrating the family’s ties to advancing business interests in China.
Biden’s speech framed growing U.S.-China relations and Chinese economic development in a positive light.
“Time pressures are very tight, plus the fact that we do not yet have one has caused a slight credibility bump in the company’s mind. This all translates into a need for a Business License, and one secured very quickly,” Owens wrote. “While this might seem to be a mundane task, I have come to understand that matters such as a Business License can end up taking an inordinate amount of time…..time we just do not have.”
