Trump publicly calls for China to investigate Bidens

Donald Trump has publicly suggested China should open an investigation into his Democratic political rival Joe Biden.

The US president made the suggestion just as he is facing an impeachment investigation whether he abused his power to ask another foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election.

The Democrats announced last week that Congress would begin impeachment proceedings after it emerged Mr Trump had pushed Ukraine's president to launch an inquiry into Mr Biden and his son Hunter during a July phone call.

In an extraordinary press conference outside the White House on Thursday, Mr Trump publicly called on China to do the same.

The demand represents a fierce push back by Mr Trump against critics who have accused the president of seeking foreign interference in the presidential election.

Mr Trump said he had not directly asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to investigate Mr Biden but said it’s "certainly something we could start thinking about."

Mr Trump's recent comments on China come as he publicly acknowledged that his message to his Ukrainian counterpart was to "investigate the Bidens".

"China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened in Ukraine," Mr Trump told reporters. "I would recommend they start an investigation".

A spokeswoman for Mr Biden said: "What Donald Trump just said on the South Lawn of the White House was... a grotesque choice of lies over truth and self over the country. The White House itself has admitted that Donald Trump tried to bully a foreign country into lying about the domestic opponent he's afraid to look in the eye next November."

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously called an allegation that a government business gave Hunter Biden $1.5 billion "totally groundless."

The allegation dates back to an official visit to China by Mr Biden in 2013, where he met with Mr Xi and others senior figures.

Hunter Biden and his daughter accompanied the vice-president on the trip and the younger Mr Biden met a Chinese banker, Jonathan Li.

Mr Li later founded a private equity fund and Hunter became business partner. A lawyer for Hunter said the pair did not discuss any business during the trip and he was also not an equity owner in the fund while his father was vice-president.

Hunter has also denied meeting any Chinese officials about the business.

The president's comments came just as the first witness in the impeachment inquiry was testifying in the US Capitol.

In response Adam Schiff, the Democrat congressman leading one of the investigations into Mr Trump, said: "The President cannot use the power of his office to pressure foreign leaders to investigate his political opponents.

"His rant this morning reinforces the urgency of our work."

Mr Trump has rebuked criticism of his conversation with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, calling it a "perfect" phone call.

He has repeatedly raised questions about Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine, where he served on the board of one of a gas company at the same time his father was serving as Barack Obama's Vice President.

There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by either of the Bidens and Mr Biden has denied his son's business dealings impacted his policy decisions.

Mr Trump's comments come just as the US and China are due to meet for a fresh round of negotiations to settle the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

The president also suggested that China had a "sweetheart deal" on trade with the US because of the Bidens.

"You know what they call that," Mr Trump said. "They call that a payoff."

Mr Trump also brought up the trade talks in a warning to the Chinese - a move likely to be seized on by Democrats as further evidence of the president exerting pressure on foreign countries to investigate his rivals.

“The Chinese are coming in next week,” he said. “We’re going to have a meeting with them, we’ll see, but we’re doing very well. I have a lot of options on China. But if they don’t do what we want, we have tremendous, tremendous power.”