Trump's election meddling rant slammed by China as "pure fabrications"

Beijing, China - Beijing on Friday accused President Donald Trump of making up "pure fabrications" about Chinese influence in the 2020 election during his address to the nation on Thursday night.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian (l) accused President Donald Trump (r) of making up "pure fabrications" about 2020 election interference.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian (l) accused President Donald Trump (r) of making up "pure fabrications" about 2020 election interference.  © Collage: IMAGO/Kyodo News & AFP/Saul Loeb/POOL

"The relevant claims made by the US side are pure fabrications and malicious smears that have long since been proven to be groundless statements," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a daily news conference.

"China has… no interest in the US election and has never interfered in it," Lin said. "The international community sees very clearly who it is that habitually interferes in the internal affairs of other countries."

"We urge the US side to reflect on its own actions, stop baselessly smearing China, refrain from making an issue of China in its elections, and do more to benefit China-US relations."

China's Xi Jinping says AI shouldn't be dominated by one country in veiled swipe at US
China China's Xi Jinping says AI shouldn't be dominated by one country in veiled swipe at US

Lin's comments come after Trump said in a White House address on Thursday that the US electoral system had been dangerously exposed, and urged lawmakers to adopt new restrictions on voting.

The speech continued Trump's push to pass his restrictive Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE America Act), a piece of legislation that enjoys little support even from within his own Republican Party.

Trump also said he would declassify intelligence that purportedly shows China had illicitly acquired 220 million voter files.

His attempt to flesh out evidence that China and other actors rigged the 2020 election in favor of President Joe Biden somewhat backfired, however, as the document dump contained evidence potentially incriminating himself and Moscow instead.

The archive of documents contained an intelligence assessment alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin led an effort to orchestrate a scandal around Hunter Biden in order to help Trump's chances in 2020.

Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO/Kyodo News & AFP/Saul Loeb/POOL

More on China: