China slams Trump claims of US election meddling as 'pure fabrications'
"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 said.
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BEIJING: Beijing accused US President Donald Trump of making "fabrications" on Friday (Jul 17), after he said China had meddled in US election data, reviving his long-standing baseless claims of voter fraud ahead of midterm polls many expect him to dispute.
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, despite scant appetite for the measures even within his Republican Party.
The US president also said he would declassify intelligence that purportedly shows that China had illicitly acquired 220 million voter files.
"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 news conference when asked about Trump's latest claims.
"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," he added.
Trump also claimed that more than 250,000 non-US citizens were registered to vote in four states.
He then attacked US broadcasters that refused to interrupt programming to carry his speech live, naming ABC and NBC, and baselessly implying they were involved in election-rigging attempts.
"They and others in the media are part of a plot," Trump said. "Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses."
Trump's claim that the 2020 election was "rigged" has never been substantiated. More than 60 lawsuits produced no ruling establishing fraud capable of changing the outcome, while recounts, audits and his own Justice Department found none.
"UNSUPPORTED" CLAIMS
Trump had promised "big news" on election security, but analysts said much of the address repackaged old or unsupported material.
Rick Hasen, an election law expert at UCLA in California, called it the "same old unsupported, and surprisingly weak, claims of American election vulnerabilities."
"It was a tired speech with recycled and debunked claims," Hasen said. "I don't think it changes anything with how American elections will be run."
Trump devoted little time to issues voters appear more focused on, including the Iran war and the economy.
Democrats accused Trump of trying to undermine confidence ahead of November's midterms, in which Republicans fear his unpopularity could cost them control of Congress.
Senate Democrat Dick Durbin called the speech "a dangerous attempt to resurrect disproven lies to undermine future elections before a single vote is cast."
Former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb said the speech appeared intended to build a case for declaring an election emergency.
"I think tonight's speech is intended to add to the predicate that he needs to declare an emergency at or about the time of the elections," Cobb told PBS, adding that he believed immigration officers at polling places were a "virtual certainty."
Trump has been pushing lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act ahead of the midterms, but the measure has little appetite even in his own party.
The bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote - already required under existing law in federal and state elections - and photo identification at polling places, while imposing new limits on mail-in ballots.
Trump has never accepted his 2020 defeat. Months after the election, he urged supporters to Washington before a mob stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
Trump could face a third impeachment trial if Democrats seize control of the House of Representatives. He was impeached twice in his first term, including for alleged incitement of the Jan 6 attack.
His last major televised address to the nation came on Apr 1, when he gave his first full public justification of the Iran war more than a month after the US-Israeli military campaign began.
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