US President Donald Trump launched a sharp attack on China late on Thursday (Washington time), accusing Beijing of interfering in US elections in a move that has strained a fragile thaw in ties and cast doubt on future high-level engagements.
In a prime-time address from the White House that lasted nearly 30 minutes, Trump accused China of orchestrating “what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history”.
He claimed Beijing stole 220 million US voter files, including names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences and other sensitive data. He also accused intelligence agencies of downplaying the scale of China’s “sinister” meddling.
On Friday, China’s foreign ministry dismissed Trump’s allegations as having “no factual ground”, saying Beijing adhered to the principle of non-intervention in other states’ internal affairs and had no interest in interfering in US elections.
Ministry spokesman Lin Jian urged Washington to reflect on its actions, stop its “unfounded smears” against China and “do more to benefit China-US relations”.
Trump’s claims of Chinese interference in US elections are not new – he made similar assertions in 2018 and 2020 – but the latest were his most sweeping and pointed yet. The national address barely touched on other issues such as the Iran war.
