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