China dismisses Trump election interference accusations as 'entirely fabricated,' threatens countermeasures

By Fox News · Fox News

China pushed back Friday after President Donald Trump accused Beijing of "working to influence the results" of the 2020 presidential election, describing his accusation as "entirely fabricated." Trump said in a primetime speech Thursday night that "in mid 2018, China was working to influence the results of the U.S. midterm elections and later the results of the 2020 presidential election itself." Trump said in a primetime speech Thursday night that newly released documents "show CIA reporting explicitly stated, and I quote, in mid 2018, the Chinese Communist Party's policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements that were opposed to the U.S. president in an effort to reduce the U.S. president's votes and make him resign or prevent his reelection." "The reason they wanted me to lose is because they knew I was wise to them," Trump added, while also accusing members of the U.S. intelligence community of operating a "shadow government" to allegedly conceal evidence of China’s efforts to influence U.S. elections. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Friday said "the relevant allegations by the U.S. are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China." "We have no interest in interfering in US elections and have never done so," Jian said. 'SHADOW GOVERNMENT': TRUMP CLAIMS INTEL COMMUNITY BRAGGED ABOUT HIDING CHINESE MEDDLING Asked whether this might affect the expected visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S. in September, the spokesperson replied: "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." Trump did not claim China changed votes or altered election results. Instead, he argued Beijing engaged in an influence campaign aimed at shaping U.S. public perceptions. Trump said intelligence officials kept significant reporting out of his presidential briefings and highlighted an email in which a National Security Agency analyst allegedly wrote, "We have d…