Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden, worked for a Shanghai investment firm involved in government- and military-linked deals that bolstered the Chinese military, including the purchase of an American auto parts maker, according to a new documentary film.<\/p>\n

The younger Mr. Biden, a lawyer and investment banker, until recently was a director at Bohai Harvest RST, known as BHR, formed with $1 billion in Chinese government funding shortly after then-Vice President Biden visited China in December 2013, according to the investigative report.<\/p>\n

Since then, the firm has worked with a division of the major Chinese defense contractor Aviation Industry Corp. of China, known as AVIC, and several other Chinese companies linked to the People\u2019s Liberation Army.<\/p>\n

Peter Schweizer, head of the Florida-based Government Accountability Institute and narrator of the film \u201cRiding the Dragon: The Bidens\u2019 Chinese Secrets,\u201d said the documentary is based on corporate records, financial documents, legal briefings and court papers. Mr. Schweizer is perhaps best known for an investigative book in 2015 tracing the foreign sources of income for Bill and Hillary Clinton after Mr. Clinton left the White House in 2001.<\/p>\n

The Hunter Biden investigation revealed a largely hidden financial relationship between China and both Bidens, Mr. Schweizer said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a relationship that grew while Joe Biden was vice president of the United States and shortly after he was appointed the point person on U.S. policy towards China,\u201d Mr. Schweizer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the story of the second most powerful man in the world at the time and how his family was striking deals with America\u2019s chief rival on the global stage, the People\u2019s Republic of China.\u201d<\/p>\n

The release of the 41-minute documentary, posted on YouTube, highlights the role of China in the presidential election.<\/p>\n

President Trump has repeatedly suggested that Joseph R. Biden and Hunter Biden\u2019s deals in China were corrupt.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis son walked out with $1.5 billion of money to invest, where he\u2019ll make hundreds of thousands of dollars \u2014 maybe millions of dollars a year,\u201d Mr. Trump told reporters in July. \u201cI asked one of the biggest people on Wall Street \u2014 maybe the biggest \u2014 \u2018Is that possible?\u2019 He said, \u2018No.\u2019 He\u2019s never seen it. [The Chinese] don\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Biden campaign declined to comment on Mr. Schweizer\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n

Asked recently whether he was vulnerable to critics because of his son\u2019s business dealings in China, Mr. Biden said: \u201cNo, I don\u2019t believe so at all. My son\u2019s business dealings were not anything what everybody that he\u2019s talking about. Not even remotely.\u201d<\/p>\n

An attorney for Hunter Biden did not respond to requests for comment on the film.<\/p>\n

The lawyer, George Mesires, said in a statement in October in response to questions about his client\u2019s business activities that Hunter Biden served as an unpaid director to BHR and owned no equity in the company while his father was vice president from 2009 to 2017.<\/p>\n

In October 2017, Hunter Biden invested $420,000 for a 10% stake in BHR, but as of October 2019 had not received any compensation for serving as a board member nor any return on the investment, his attorney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, Hunter played no role in directing or making BHR\u2019s investments,\u201d Mr. Mesires said. \u201cHunter intends to resign from the BHR board of directors on or by October 31, 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter Biden promised not to serve on any foreign boards or work for foreign companies if his father becomes president, Mr. Mesires said.<\/p>\n

Deals around the world<\/strong><\/p>\n

A BHR spokesman could not be reached, but the company says on its website that it was formed in 2013 as China\u2019s first foreign investment private equity firm and a \u201ccross-border investment arm of Bohai Industrial Investment Fund,\u201d a government-approved equity fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bring together the financial, market and deal resources of our stakeholders (including the Bank of China) and the structuring and execution capabilities of our experienced investment team,\u201d the company stated.<\/p>\n

The film shows that BHR made deals around the world aimed at advancing Chinese government goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new firm started making investment deals that would serve the strategic interests of the Chinese military,\u201d Mr. Schweizer said.<\/p>\n

In 2015, for example, BHR together with AVIC purchased the American auto parts manufacturer Henniges for a reported $1 billion. The deal was approved by the Obama administration despite Henniges\u2019 role in producing goods with potential military applications.<\/p>\n

A year earlier, AVIC was sanctioned by the Commerce Department and placed on a list of companies denied export licenses for their role in selling missile goods to Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cAVIC was notorious for its history of stealing U.S. military technologies to build their own fighter jets and drones,\u201d Mr. Schweizer said.<\/p>\n

BHR also invested in military surveillance technology and facial recognition software called Face++, a division of the Chinese company Megvii. Face++ is a key element of the government\u2019s mass surveillance network used throughout China and is now being marketed to Third World governments.<\/p>\n

BHR also assisted China\u2019s effort to corner the world market on rare-earth minerals, which are essential for a broad range of high-technology products. In 2014, BHR joined with a company called China Molybdenum in announcing plans to buy half of one of the largest copper mines in the world.<\/p>\n

BHR also invested in China General Nuclear Power Corp., or CGN, which U.S. prosecutors have linked to the theft of commercial nuclear power technology secrets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it really that crazy to think that by partnering with the son of the vice president, [the Chinese] were trying to buy them too?\u201d Mr. Schweizer asked. \u201cAnd make no mistake: These firms Hunter was dealing with are directly tied to the Chinese military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both CGN and AVIC were listed by the Pentagon as military-linked Chinese companies in June.<\/p>\n

The film concludes that much remains unknown about the Bidens\u2019 dealings in China.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also know that these deals didn\u2019t just make the Bidens\u2019 money; they had potentially dangerous consequences for our national security,\u201d Mr. Schweizer said.<\/p>\n

Despite Hunter Biden\u2019s announced resignation from BHR, \u201cHunter quietly maintains an ownership stake in the firm, a stake worth millions of dollars, and stands to be worth even more as its China partnership prospers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The film quoted the former vice president\u2019s widely cited comment in May on the campaign trail in Iowa that China is not a strategic threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n