China has vehemently denied former President Donald Trump's accusations that Beijing engaged in election interference by hacking American voter files and compromising sensitive data during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The denials come as the upcoming state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United States faces uncertainty.
During a speech on Thursday, Trump asserted that China had carried out "the largest compromise of election data in history," alleging the illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files. He further claimed that this data included personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and political party preferences, and that a unit in mainland China was tasked with hacking this information. Trump also stated that his own intelligence agencies had suppressed evidence of these activities.
A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry dismissed Trump's allegations as "entirely fabricated" and stated that the country "has no interest in interfering in U.S. elections and has never done so." The spokesperson characterized Trump's claims as an attempt to "vilify China" and accused Washington of "wantonly" interfering in other nations' democratic processes.
When asked if Trump's comments could lead to the cancellation of Xi's visit, the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned, "As I just said, we urge the U.S. to stop making an issue of China in its elections and do something conducive to China-U.S. relations." While China issued a firm denial, it did not issue a direct threat of diplomatic retaliation or demand a retraction.
President Xi is scheduled to arrive in New York City on September 24 for the United Nations General Assembly. This visit would mark the first state visit to the U.S. by a Chinese leader in over a decade. Former President Trump had personally extended the invitation to Xi during his own trip to Beijing in May.
The summit between Trump and Xi was anticipated to address trade and technology disputes between the two global economic powers. Trump's decision to resurface his 2020 election grievances comes less than four months before the November midterm elections. Democrats have accused him of attempting to undermine confidence in election results he might find unfavorable.
Trump, however, stated during his speech that the purpose of disclosing this information was not to weaken confidence in elections, but rather to build that confidence by identifying and correcting vulnerabilities quickly. It is important to note that no evidence of voting machine insecurity or fraud in the 2020 election has been established.