China firmly rejected accusations from President Donald Trump that Beijing interfered in the 2020 US presidential election, after Trump said Thursday his administration would declassify intelligence documents alleging Chinese meddling.
In his address, Trump alleged China compromised roughly 220 million American voter files and orchestrated a broader breach of election security, calling for an investigation into what he described as a cover-up by US intelligence agencies. He said newly declassified documents show intelligence officials withheld evidence of Chinese election activity from both the public and himself, alleging Beijing specifically opposed his 2020 reelection given his trade policies toward China. He also accused Chinese authorities of trying to identify and financially incentivize American journalists to publish stories critical of him ahead of that election.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the allegations ahead of Trump’s remarks, reiterating Beijing’s longstanding policy of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs and calling the outcome of US elections a matter to be decided solely by American voters. A prior US intelligence assessment had found no evidence of foreign manipulation of the 2020 election results.
The exchange marks the latest round in a recurring pattern of accusations, with Trump previously making similar claims about Chinese interference during his first term, which Beijing has consistently denied using nearly identical language.
