China forcefully rejected President Donald Trump’s latest accusations that Beijing interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, dismissing the claims as “entirely fabricated” and insisting it has never sought to influence American elections.
Speaking during a Friday press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian responded to remarks Trump made during a primetime address the previous evening. In that speech, the president accused China of infiltrating voter rolls during the 2020 election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden.
Lin categorically denied the allegations, arguing that the accusations were without merit and served only to damage China’s reputation.
“The relevant allegations by the U.S. are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China,” Lin said. “We have no interest in interfering in U.S. elections and have never done so.”
The Chinese official also suggested that the international community is well aware of which countries regularly interfere in the internal affairs of others, though he did not identify any nation by name.
During the briefing, Lin was asked whether Trump’s latest comments could complicate Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to the United States in September. Rather than speculate on the diplomatic impact, the spokesperson urged Washington to stop linking China to claims of election interference if it wants to improve relations between the two countries.
“We urge the U.S. to stop making an issue of China in its elections and do something conducive to China-U.S. relations,” Lin said.
The Hill reported that it has reached out to the State Department for comment on the exchange but had not received a response.
Trump’s Thursday address included more than accusations against Beijing. The president also announced that his administration would declassify and release what he described as “critical intelligence revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.”
According to Trump, the newly disclosed information demonstrated that China had allegedly carried out what he characterized as a massive compromise of U.S. election data, resulting in the acquisition of hundreds of millions of American voter files.
The administration subsequently made documents available on the White House website under a section titled “Election Integrity.” Trump maintained that the materials supported his assertions regarding China’s alleged actions involving U.S. election-related data.
However, the documents posted online did not appear to conclusively substantiate the president’s claims. According to the article, the files were not as definitive as Trump had previously suggested and appeared to provide largely unsubstantiated support for the allegations outlined during his speech.
The exchange marks the latest point of disagreement between Washington and Beijing over election-related claims. While Trump has argued that newly released intelligence exposes significant vulnerabilities in the nation’s election infrastructure and points to Chinese involvement, Beijing has flatly denied any role and called on the United States to stop raising China in connection with its elections.
With Xi’s planned visit to the United States still on the calendar for September, Chinese officials are signaling they want the issue set aside in favor of improving bilateral relations, while questions remain over the significance of the election documents released by the White House.
