ON THE WORLD STAGE
No evidence given for the allegation
President Donald Trump holds a news conference Wednesday in New York City. It came after meetings at the U.N. General Assembly and a day before a high-stakes Senate hearing on his Supreme Court nominee. United Nations story on
The Washington Post
UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump on Wednesday directly accused China of interfering in the U.S. midterm elections this fall in retaliation for the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing, marking a new front in the deepening hostilities that have threatened to upend bilateral relations.
The president made the allegation during his opening remarks at a U.N. Security Council meeting on nonproliferation, asserting that China “has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election, coming up in November, against my administration. They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president to ever challenge China on trade, and we are winning on trade — we are winning on every level. We don’t want to them to meddle or interfere in our upcoming election.”
Mr. Trump presented no evidence for his claims, and his top national security advisers told reporters in August they had not found specific examples of interference ahead of the midterms from countries other than Russia, although they warned it remained a possibility. In his remarks at the Security Council meeting, Mr. Trump made no mention of Russian interference, though he did say later that his administration also will not let Moscow interfere in the elections.
Afterward, in a hastily arranged press call on “Chinese interference,” a senior administration official offered no examples of activity specifically constituting interference in the 2018 election other than to say that China has hurt “farmers and workers in states and districts that voted for the president because he stood up to the ways China has taken advantage of our country economically.”
The official added that the activities include “targeting certain districts and states with tariffs, but go beyond that.” He did not elaborate.
“China has all along followed the principle of noninterference in other country’s domestic affairs,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the U.N. meetings, which President Xi Jinping is not attending. “We did not and will not interfere in any country’s domestic affairs. We refuse to accept any unwarranted accusations against China.”
Republicans are facing a difficult midterm election cycle and Mr. Trump has been holding campaign rallies in key states in support of GOP candidates. The president’s frustration with China also could be aimed at blaming outside forces if the party is unable to maintain control of Congress.
The Chinese state media purchased a four-page advertising supplement in the Des Moines Register in Iowa this week touting China as “an example for the world” and noting Mr. Xi had studied in the state when he was a college exchange student. Mr. Trump tweeted about the ad on Wednesday, after his speech.
China, Russia and other countries have been purchasing such advertisements for many years in many newspapers, including The Washington Post.
In a photo op with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mr. Trump referred to the advertising supplements and said Beijing was aiming to punish U.S. farmers through high tariffs.
“China is going and attacking the Farm Belt, our farmers,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re attacking our industrial — with ads and with statements that do not look like ads, they look like editorial, but they’re not. They’re made up by China.”
Mr. Trump also said, “I don’t like it when they attack our farmers and I don’t like it when they put out false statements. Besides that, we find out they’re trying to meddle in our elections, and we’re not going to let that happen — just like we’re not going to let that happen with Russia.”