The United States alleges that China has tried to influence and interfere in the country’s upcoming presidential election. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed the news of the evidence.
However, Chinese President Xi Jinping has always said that China is not involved in any such thing.
Blinken said he saw the evidence in an interview on Friday (April 26). He recently visited Beijing on a three-day visit. The US Secretary of State also held a meeting with Xi Jinping and top Chinese officials there.
Blinken told Xi in his meeting not to interfere in the election. Earlier, US President Joe Biden gave the same message to Xi in November last year. At the time, Xi promised that China would do no such thing.
Asked whether Xi was keeping his promises, Blinken said, “Generally speaking, we have seen evidence of attempts to influence and interfere with the election, and we want to make sure that this kind of thing stops as quickly as possible.”
Blinken also said, “Any form of Chinese interference in elections is something we take very seriously and is completely unacceptable to us.” So I wanted to make sure they got our message.’
Beijing has repeatedly said it does not interfere in US elections. They are steadfast in this matter from the principle of not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
Meanwhile, Blinken was seen visiting China for the second time in less than a year. This visit is seen as a high-level meeting after last year’s Biden-Xi summit. Since last year, China and the United States have been trying to fix the broken relationship between them, to start bilateral communication again.
Regarding the visit, Blinken said in an interview with CNN, “We are focusing on the issues on which we are ready to go into a cooperative relationship.” We are also talking directly about the differences and it is important to do that.’
The US has long expressed concern about China’s support for Russia. In particular, the US does not take well to China’s support for Russian defense industry. Blinken also warned the country’s officials that China’s continued support could lead to more sanctions in the future.
According to the US, China’s support is boosting Russia’s production capacity of tanks, weapons and armored vehicles, which is ultimately affecting the war in Ukraine. China, however, has been denying this. They have been saying for a long time that they are neutral on the Ukraine war. The country has also claimed in the past that they can play a role as mediators in resolving this conflict. However, since the beginning of the war, Beijing’s economic, strategic and diplomatic relations with Russia have strengthened.
