The news raises further questions about the Biden family's controversial business dealings in China and casts doubt on Democratic nominee Joe Biden's ability to stand up to China on the world stage should he be elected president.
In the report, the Free Beacon noted:
Bohai Harvest RST Shanghai Equity, an investment firm that Hunter Biden owns a stake in, initially invested in Megvii, a sanctioned Chinese tech company that specializes in facial recognition software, in 2017, according to the company's website. The firm holds a nearly 2 percent stake in Megvii through two holding companies, according to a prospectus filed by Megvii as part of its application for a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange last year.
Megvii, known for its core product, Face++, was added to a the U.S. Commerce Department blacklist last year for "human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang."
The Free Beacon notes that though Biden has since stepped down from the board of the firm, "he still owns a 10 percent stake in the investment firm through his U.S.-based limited liability company Skaneateles LLC, according to corporate records from China's official company database."