US President Donald Trump has accused China of carrying out a massive breach of American election-related data during the 2020 presidential election cycle, claiming that newly declassified intelligence reveals sensitive information belonging to millions of US voters was compromised. China has strongly rejected the allegations, insisting it has never interfered in American elections.
Trump Announces Intelligence Release
In a televised address from the White House, Trump said his administration would declassify intelligence documents that he described as exposing serious weaknesses in the US election system.
According to Trump, the intelligence indicates that China allegedly obtained personal information linked to around 220 million American voters, including names, residential addresses, phone numbers, political affiliations and other details that could potentially be misused.
He described the alleged incident as “the largest compromise of election data in history” and argued that it raised significant concerns about the integrity of future elections.
Trump also claimed the intelligence suggested China had established a specialised data exploitation unit to target American election-related information.
Fresh Concerns Over Election Security
The US President said stronger safeguards were needed to protect elections, arguing that voters should have complete confidence that every ballot is counted accurately and without interference.
He further alleged that officials within what he referred to as the “deep state” attempted to suppress information related to the alleged breach, calling the situation an unprecedented election security challenge.
Trump has repeatedly maintained that the 2020 presidential election was affected by widespread irregularities, although courts and election officials have previously rejected allegations of fraud that would have changed the election outcome.
China Rejects Trump’s Allegations
Responding to the accusations, the Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the claims and reiterated Beijing’s long-standing position that it does not interfere in the domestic political affairs of other countries.
In its response, the embassy stated that the US presidential election is an internal matter decided solely by American voters and said China has never interfered, nor intends to interfere, in US elections.
The latest exchange adds to ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing, with election security and cybersecurity continuing to remain sensitive issues in the relationship between the two countries.
