The images appear to show Vice President Biden introducing Hunter to President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China.

The investigation will last up to 12 months and could pave the way for further tariffs under the incoming Trump administration.

Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partners sought and received access to then-vice president Joe Biden’s political power, according to a GOP impeachment report.

U.S. President Joe Biden granted clemency to three Chinese citizens in November 2024 as part of a prisoner swap with China, contrary to social media posts suggesting it was a unilateral decision to free people who committed serious crimes.

The commutations were separate from the over 1,000 people whose sentences the U.S. president commuted on Dec. 12, 2024.

President-elect Trump on Wednesday used a lengthy Christmas Day social media post to tell the 37 people who had their death sentences commuted by President Biden to “go to hell.”

As he leaves the White House, President Joe Biden isn’t forgetting Christmas gifts to China. This week he announced new Paris Agreement targets to reduce greenhouse gases and he issued a waiver to California to attempt to do away with the American internal combustion engine.

The Biden administration announced on Monday a last-minute trade investigation into older Chinese-made "legacy" semiconductors that could heap more U.S. tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from autos to washing machines to telecoms gear.

"Disabling or destroying TSMC is table stakes if China is taking over Taiwan," former senior Pentagon official Elbridge Colby said in February.

The Chinese government is protesting the latest American announcements of military sales and assistance to Taiwan, warning the United States that it is “playing with fire.”

President Joe Biden on Dec. 12 announced a single-day record of 1,499 sentences commuted, along with 39 pardons of nonviolent offenders. Some critics later expressed outrage over what they said was the pardon of Chinese spies and a sex offender.