China syndrome: Granholm latest Biden official to raise eyebrows in dealings with Beijing

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is the latest in a string of Biden administration officials to come under scrutiny for meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials after newly uncovered records show she met twice with a Chinese energy official days before announcing the U.S. would tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to combat high gas prices. 

Energy Department records obtained by the watchdog Americans for Public Trust last week show that Granholm spoke with China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua, a longtime Chinese Communist Party official, on Nov. 19, 2021, and again on Nov. 22, 2021. 

Read Granholm's calendar here:

It is unclear what Granholm discussed with Zhang, but the watchdog pointed out how days after the meetings, on Nov. 23, 2021, the White House announced that 50 million barrels of oil from the SPR would be released. The Biden administration sold at least two million barrels from the reserves to UNIPEC, a Texas-based oil and gas company affiliated with the state-controlled China Petrochemical Corporation.

Over the past year, the Biden administration's seemingly cozy relationship with China on energy issues has been made more evident. 

Granholm said at Politico's energy summit in May that supporting domestic energy production does not necessarily mean turning away from China.

"We want to be able to have our own energy security here," she said. "At the same time, the administration has taken some steps that would allow Chinese companies and Chinese goods to enter the market."

Obama administration climate official Sharon Burke said at the time that even if the Biden administration wanted to decouple its economy from China, the United States relies too much on the Asian nation to do so.

Additionally, the Biden administration in June approved of allowing the Chinese company Gotion to build an electric vehicle battery factory in Michigan. The project has $1.14 billion in U.S. taxpayer-funded support.

The Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee warned in July that the transition to electric vehicles is "making life unaffordable, limiting people’s transportation choices, and handing China the keys to America’s auto industry." This is because China controls the majority of global mineral mining, processing and manufacturing related to electric vehicles.

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) told Just the News that the tax credits supporting electric vehicles "actually made us more dependent on China, because that's the only people that have the raw materials and process the raw materials right now, for the batteries that are necessary for these vehicles."

Also last month, Biden climate envoy John Kerry spent three days in Beijing fruitlessly attempting to convince China to commit to a tougher climate response.

"We had very frank conversations but we came here to break new ground," Kerry said, according to The New York Times. "It is clear that we are going to need a little more work."

Meanwhile, the watchdog released Granholm's calendar revealing the previously unknown meetings with Zhang the same day Just the News published text messages provided to the FBI showing that another Chinese state-controlled energy company, CEFC China Energy, had been trying to pursue a relationship with the Biden family since 2015, when Joe Biden was vice president. Documents released by Congress show that the Biden family received millions of dollars in payments from the company.

Biden has had a cordial relationship with China for years, extending well beyond the energy sector.

Biden was open about his lack of concern regarding China during his 2020 presidential campaign when he said, "They're not bad folks," and "They're not competition for us."

Biden has repeatedly claimed he's spent more time with Chinese leader Xi Jinping than any other head of state and that he's traveled 17,000 miles with him. The statement earned him "Three Pinocchios" on a four-Pinocchio scale in a Washington Post fact check.

Experts warned Just the News last year that Biden's policies are emboldening Beijing by ending Trump-era crackdowns on China.

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