Hunter Biden helped plan Chinese state luncheon before visiting the country, emails show

Hunter Biden was involved in planning a state luncheon with Chinese officials at the White House months before he traveled to the country to secure a lucrative deal with Chinese government-aligned groups, emails obtained by America First Legal (AFL) show.

In total, AFL obtained more than 1,000 emails from the National Archives between Hunter Biden’s Rosemont Seneca from and the Office of the Vice President, including at least one that involves planning for a 2011 China State Luncheon at the White House.

In a written response to AFL's request for documents related to "Hunter Biden, James Biden, and their foreign business dealings," the National Archives notified the group that "[t]he email messages include January 2011 guest lists for the China State Luncheon event held on January 19, 2011."

"Emails obtained by AFL reveal the broad access Hunter Biden enjoyed to the official government channels while his father was Vice President," the organization declared in a post to X.

/1🚨BREAKING — We obtained new docs from our lawsuit against the National Archives revealing over 1,000 emails between Rosemont Seneca and the Office of Vice President.

See how Hunter’s private business dealings commingled with the official business of the Obama White House. ⤵️

— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) August 30, 2023

"Even though Hunter had no official role in the Obama-Biden Administration, he was intimately involved in planning for high-profile White House events, including the January 2011 China State Luncheon, the June 2011 State Arrival Ceremony for German Chancellor, the March 2012 United Kingdom State Dinner and Visit, the May 2013 Turkey State Luncheon, and the 2014 France State Dinner," the organization continued. 

On January 18, 2011, Hunter Biden received a notification from the State Department with "updates and arrival information" for the state luncheon, according to an email obtained from Biden’s abandoned laptop. The luncheon was held in honor of then-Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States. 

Months later, Hunter Biden and his associates traveled to China in April 2011 in search of new business ventures. It was on this trip that the younger Biden and his associates met with Che Feng, identified as the "Super Chairman" in Hunter Biden’s emails. This trip would see the creation, of BHR Partners in which Hunter Biden’s company, Skaneateles LLC, holds a 10 percent equity stake. BHR Partners is co-owned by the state-controlled Bank of China.

Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer first reported this business deal in his book "Secret Empires." In a NY Post op-ed, Schweizer noted that Che Feng "played a key role in getting the deal going by introducing Hunter and his partners to large Chinese state-backed investment funds." Schweizer’s later research also identified Che Feng’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party through his former business partner. 

Steve Kaplan, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business estimated that Hunter Biden’s stake was worth close to $20 million based on comparable firms. 

AFL’s uncovering of the emails between the Obama-Biden White House and the Chinese State Luncheon raise new questions about the supposed "absolute wall between personal and private and the government" then-candidate Joe Biden promised to carry over from the Obama Administration if Hunter Biden and his associates were involved in the planning of a Chinese state luncheon months before securing a lucrative deal in China.