President Biden said in a new interview that there is evidence that China is interfering in the upcoming US elections, ironizing that “all the bad guys” are rooting for former President Trump in the November race.
“There is evidence that there is meddling,” Biden told Time magazine in an interview published Tuesday, declining to go into further detail.
When a reporter interrupted to say it looked like China was meddling, Biden said China “would be interested in meddling.”
“Everybody, all the bad guys are rooting for Trump, man. It’s not a joke,” he added.
Biden, at the beginning of the interview, held on May 28, told how foreign leaders often tell him that it is important for him to win re-election to protect democracy in the US and abroad.
The president’s comments come after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in AprilAfter a three-day trip to China, there were signs that Beijing was trying to influence and potentially interfere in the upcoming US elections.
CNN reported that Biden warned Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in San Francisco in November not to interfere in the 2024 election.
Taiwanese groups outlined earlier this year a major disinformation campaign used by Chinese actors during the island nation’s national elections, which ended in January and dealt a blow to Beijing with the victory of a pro-US candidate.
The Chinese actors’ alleged tactics involved using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to manipulate videos and sow discord in Taiwan, including completely distorting the words of at least one member of the US Congress, raising concerns about the risks in the US elections .
Foreign efforts to influence US elections would not be new. Federal authorities concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election between Trump and then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The National Intelligence Council released a report in March 2021 which concluded that Russia and Iran made efforts to influence the 2020 presidential election. Russia, the report states, sought to denigrate Biden’s candidacy, while Iran sought to sow division and undermine Trump’s prospects.
The same report concluded that China “considered but did not implement” influence efforts in the 2020 election.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
