Politics

China rejects Trump's request to investigate Joe Biden, report says

Key Points
  • China says it will not investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, according to the South China Morning Post.
  • Last week, President Donald Trump said Beijing should probe his 2020 political rival.
  • The call to investigate Biden increased scrutiny of Trump following his push for Ukraine to probe the Bidens.
US Vice President Joe Biden attends a business leader breakfast at a hotel in Beijing on December 5, 2013.
Lintao Zhang | AFP | Getty Images

China has dismissed President Donald Trump's request to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, according to a report.

"We have no intention of intervening in the domestic affairs of the United States. Our position is consistent and clear," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday, according to the South China Morning Post, the main English-language newspaper in Hong Kong.

Last week, the U.S. president said China "should start an investigation" into the former vice president and his son Hunter. Trump has argued without evidence that China gave the younger Biden "a billion and a half dollars" throughout his business dealings in the country.

His call for Beijing to start a probe into one of his main competitors for the presidency increased concerns about Trump abusing his power to influence the 2020 election. Trump's push to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens sparked an ongoing House impeachment inquiry into the president's conduct.

Trump's call for China to probe the Biden family came only days before Beijing's negotiators were set to resume trade talks with U.S. officials in Washington on Thursday. The world's two largest economies hope to reach an agreement and end a damaging trade war, and Trump's request raised questions about whether a possible probe could affect negotiations.

Trump said last week that "one has nothing to do with the other."

The president's call for China to investigate the Bidens increased criticism of him on Capitol Hill. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said last week that Trump's "brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling."

Read the full South China Morning Post story here.

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Donald Trump: China deal has nothing to do with call for Biden probe
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Donald Trump: China deal has nothing to do with call for Biden probe