Trump’s Chinese interference claims ‘reveal huge crisis facing American democracy’
The US president’s allegations are campaign rhetoric and not likely to affect ties with Beijing, according to a leading political scientist
Instead of repeatedly shifting blame onto other countries, Washington should reflect on how to reform its own democracy, he said in an interview.
During a prime-time address from the White House on Thursday (Washington time), Trump accused China of interfering in the 2020 US presidential race – which he lost to Joe Biden.
In a speech lasting nearly 30 minutes, he further claimed that Beijing orchestrated “what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history”, leading to the “illicit acquisition” of 220 million US voter files.
Democracy is no longer a value in the US, but merely a tool manipulated by politicians and political parties
The US president also argued that intelligence documents had revealed “shocking vulnerabilities” in the country’s election infrastructure, leaving it exposed to “hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference”.