China rejects Trump’s election meddling claims as smear
China on Friday hit back at Donald Trump for accusing Beijing of meddling in American elections, dismissing the US President’s claims as fabricated and a malicious smear and urging him to stop making baseless allegations.
China has always upheld the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs and has neither any interest in nor ever interfered in US elections, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing while answering a question on Trump’s allegations.
In contrast, the international community knows full well who habitually interferes in other countries’ internal affairs, indiscriminately conducts long-term surveillance of Governments, businesses and ordinary citizens around the world, and steals foreign citizens’ data on a massive scale, Lin said.
“We urge the US side to reflect on its own conduct, stop making baseless accusations against China, refrain from using China as an election issue, and do more to promote China-US relations,” Lin said. Asked whether Trump’s allegations against China would affect Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans to visit the US in September, Lin said, “We urge the US to stop making an issue of China in its elections and do something conducive to China-US relations”.
Trump visited China in May and held talks with Xi, following which the Chinese President said both sides reached important common understandings on maintaining stable economic and trade ties, expanding practical cooperation in various fields.
