FLASHBACK: Biden made revealing comment about niece's Obama admin role while praising 'rising China'

FIRST ON FOX: Then-Vice President Biden boasted about his Harvard-educated niece previously studying Chinese and living in China while delivering a speech in 2011 touting "a rising China" being "a positive, positive development, not only for China but for America…"

Biden gave a shout-out to Casey Owens, who was concluding her stint as a special assistant for the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Treasury Department, while delivering remarks to the opening session of the group, according to an email chain that was reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Owens, the daughter of Biden’s sister, emailed then-Vice President Biden’s "Auks" alias email address in May 2011, thanking him for the "memorable day" and said it was "very, very humbling" watching him speak.

"And your remarks. That was really something else, Uncle Joe. What a way to exit the Treasury," Owens said, according to an email from Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop. "I'm simply happy to be close to you, and I just wanted to say thank you for including me."

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In addition to the email from Owens to the elder Biden, a transcript from Biden’s speech was included in the email chain, highlighting what Biden thought about a "rising China."

"We cannot claim the same number of Americans in China, but our 100,000 Strong Initiative will dramatically increase the number of young Americans living and studying in China," Biden said.  "As a matter of fact, my niece who -- excuse me, as we say in the Senate, a point a personal privilege -- who graduated from Harvard not too long ago, works for Secretary Geithner, she did exactly what we hope another 100,000 will do: She studied Chinese and went and lived in China and is now devoted to making sure the relationship gets better and better and better."

"As a young member of a Foreign Relations Committee, I wrote and I said and I believed then what I believe now: That a rising China is a positive, positive development, not only for China but for America and the world writ large," he added.

The "100,000 Strong Initiative" that Biden mentioned refers to the goal then-President Obama set near the beginning of his administration in hopes of "sending 100,000 American students to China in the next 4 years to learn Mandarin, to experience Chinese culture, and to learn about the hospitality of the Chinese people, while they serve as ambassadors for the United States in China." 

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Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in May 2010 she was "pleased to sign" an agreement with State Councilor Liu Yandong, who has held some of the highest positions in the CCP. 

Fox News Digital previously reported on how Yandong would meet with representatives from the Congressional Black Caucus and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) a few years later and announced student scholarships.

"Our U.S.-China relationship must extend beyond the halls of government to our homes, our businesses, and our schools," Clinton continued. "And these exchanges really offer the opportunity for people to connect and collaborate, and they remind us of how much we have in common."

During Owens’ tenure at Treasury, she repeatedly emailed Hunter Biden and his now-former business partner Eric Schwerin about China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Fox News Digital previously reported. A former business associate confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday that Owens was "definitely a resource" Hunter used and that a CIC meeting did occur.

On April 12, 2010, Owens emailed Hunter and Schwerin a schedule from her Treasury email address, highlighting a CIC investment conference that took place a couple of weeks earlier.

"FYI on recent CIC investment conference at a resort in Sanya, on Hainan Island, over the weekend of March 27-28," Owens wrote.

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A Thornton Group press release dated that same day – April 12, 2010 – said the company’s chairman, James Bulger, and Hunter visited Beijing just three days earlier and met with CIC Chief Investment Officer Gao Xiqing, among others, according to the Republican Senate report released in September 2020.

A feature article about Owens published months later by the Tower Hill Bulletin said she and her team had traveled to Beijing in May 2010 with a U.S. delegation led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

A photo of Owens in the article showed her receiving a "small jade vase as a birthday gift" from China’s then-vice minister of finance, Zhu Guangyao. According to the Ministry of Finance website, its primary function is to implement the decisions and policies of the Chinese Communist Party in the area of public finance.

The Bulletin article said Owens’ team and Zhu "worked very closely during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue." 

Weeks after returning from Beijing, Owens emailed Schwerin a Bloomberg News article about CIC, titled, "China’s CIC May Post Record Year for 2009 as Markets Recover," which Schwerin then forwarded to Hunter on July 23, 2010.

Owens, who now goes by Castello, left the Treasury in July 2011 and is currently an executive at Starbucks, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Owens isn’t the only member of her immediate family with ties to China. Fox News Digital previously reported on how her dad, John "Jack" Owens, pleaded for Hunter to help him secure a business license to expand his telemedicine company in China, saying it needed to be "secured very quickly."

The elder Owens emailed Hunter on May 9, 2014, informing him that his companies, MediGuide America and MediGuide Insurance Services International (MISI), reached a "serious stage" in negotiations with a China-based insurance company, but said he won’t be able to "seal this deal" without a "Chinese Business License." 

"Time pressures are very tight, plus the fact that we do not yet have one has caused a slight credibility bump in the company's mind. This all translates into a need for a Business License, and one secured very quickly," Owens wrote. "While this might seem to be a mundane task, I have come to understand that matters such as a Business License can end up taking an inordinate amount of time.....time we just do not have."

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Owens continued by saying he would be "most appreciative of any help." Hunter Biden replied less than a hour later and said, "Working on it-back to you ASAP." The younger Biden then forwarded Owens’ email to Thornton Group Chairman James Bulger, the nephew of mobster Whitey Bulger and co-founder of the Thornton Group. 

He also sent it to Michael Lin, a Taiwanese-American businessman who has worked with the State Legislative Leaders Foundation (SLLF), a nonprofit that has been partnered since 2015 with the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, a propaganda group that pushes Chinese Communist Party (CCP) messaging. Lin and Bulger both arranged Hunter Biden's first business trip to China in April 2010, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

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"See email below. It's from my Uncle Jack. Is there a way we can help him expedite this? Time is of the essence here," Hunter Biden wrote.

Bulger responded the next morning and said he would discuss with Lin how they can "help." Three days later, Bulger sent an email to Hunter saying, "Me and Michael had a call with Jack this morning I think we have a solution for hi[s] China problem."

"Michael and Ran are researching the regs and laws right now but our Thornton WOFE will likely be ok for Jacks company to use," Bulger continued, likely referring to the wholly foreign-owned enterprise of the Thornton Group, the company Bulger and Lin co-founded.

A few days later, Bulger sent an email to Owens and Lin, and copied Hunter Biden, asking Owens to "give us until Monday to review a few more laws and regulations in Beijing."

"I may have you answer a few question[s] on Monday so we can get specific with the appropriate authority's in China," Bulger wrote.

It is unclear whether Bulger and Lin were able to successfully secure a business license for Owens or whether Thornton’s "WOFE" sufficed for China’s laws. However, MediGuide’s website says it has come to "an agreement with AnyHealth Shanghai."

"MediGuide and Any Health intend to expand MediGuide’s business in China under the name of ‘MediGuide China,’" the website reads. "AnyHealth Shanghai will be legally representing MediGuide International LLC in China. " It is unclear if AnyHealth Shanghai is the same company referenced in the emails. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Owens for comment but did not receive a response.

Fox News' Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.