Di Dongsheng, Professor of International Relations at Renmin University, asked during a speech attended by hundreds of people at an event on November 28, in Shanghai hosted by Guancha.cn, while discussing the trade war started by Trump: “So why can’t we fix the Trump administration? Why between 1992 and 2016 were China and the US able to settle all kinds of issues?” He said: “It’s because we have people at the top. At the top of America’s core inner circle of power and influence, we have our old friends.” Di Dongsheng added that the Chinese government’s friends are mostly investors in Wall Street, who have “had a very profound influence over America‘s domestic and foreign affairs since the 1970s”. “We used to heavily rely on them, but the problem is that after 2008, the status of Wall Street has declined and more importantly, after 2016, Wall Street couldn’t fix Trump”. He briefly suggested the president-elect’s son Hunter had ties to Beijing: “Trump has been saying that Biden’s son has some sort of global foundation. Have you noticed that? Who helped [Hunter] build the foundations? Got it? There are a lot of deals inside all this.” 

(Comment: China is known to try and win over or influence politicians and other influential persons through generous financial and other inducements. The scandal involving former President Clinton's campaign contributions was detailed in a book by William Tripplett Jr III. In addition to him, there are many others soft on China including former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson etc. There have also been persistent reports about Biden's son, Hunter Biden, having received funds from the Chinese. On December 9, he was notified of an active criminal investigation into his tax affairs by the U.S. Attorney for Delaware.)