Blinken: China seeks to ‘influence and possibly interfere’ with US elections

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with CNN published Friday that the Biden administration has seen evidence that China is trying to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Blinken, who is coming to the end of a three-day visit to China, said in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials that he had raised any interference in the U.S. election as “totally unacceptable.”

Such an action would violate a promise Xi made to President Biden when the two leaders met in Woodside, California, in November. The meeting is a watershed meeting aimed at stabilizing the deep mistrust and competition between the United States and China.

Asked whether Xi had violated Woodside’s promise, Blinken told CNN: “Generally speaking, we have seen evidence of attempts to influence and certainly interfere. We want to end that as soon as possible.”

Blinken did not cite specific evidence of Chinese election interference or say Beijing had violated Xi’s promises to Biden.

But the New York Times reported in early April that a secret Chinese account was posing as a supporter of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate. These accounts are promoting conspiracy theories, stoking division in the country and attacking Biden ahead of the November election.

Mr Blinken told Mr Xi and other Chinese officials: “Any interference in our elections by China is something we are watching very closely and is completely unacceptable to us. I wanted to hear it again.”

In addition to Mr. Xi, Mr. Blinken also met with senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong, and Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining.

Blinken’s visit was aimed at establishing and maintaining open lines of communication with Chinese officials amid tense U.S.-China relations. Blinken said he came with the message that keeping open lines in military-to-military channels is important to avoid conflict, advance counternarcotics cooperation and strengthen people’s bonds.

There were no new announcements regarding cooperation, and the trip ended. Blinken said the visit came “at a time of severe tensions between the two countries” and was “aimed at stabilizing relations and resuming and strengthening high-level communication channels.”