China pushes back on Trump election interference comments

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is rejecting President Trump’s Wednesday accusation that China has tried to interfere in U.S. elections.

“We did not and will not interfere in any country’s domestic affairs. We refuse to accept any unwarranted accusations against China,” Wang said through a translator at the United Nations.

Trump had accused China of attempting to meddle in the 2018 midterms earlier in the day. 

{mosads}”Regrettably, we found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election,” Trump told a U.N. Security Council meeting. “They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade.”

Trump did not say what evidence he had found to warrant the accusation, but the claims are consistent with past ones from his administration.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told reporters earlier this month “we have seen signs” of meddling from “not just Russia, but from China, of capabilities, potentially from Iran and even North Korea.”

The president recently signed an executive order allowing the U.S. to hit foreign actors with sanctions if the administration deems that they have interfered with U.S. elections.

The president has faced criticism that he has not done enough to halt foreign interference in U.S. elections, particularly after he has repeatedly hedged on supporting the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered with the 2016 election with the intention of helping to elect him.