US President Donald Trump has made a sensational new allegation, claiming that China manipulated American election data and that the US electoral system harbors massive flaws. He made the remarks during an address to the nation lasting roughly 25 minutes, asserting that China carried out the largest data hacking operation in history during the 2020 election, illegally harvesting the personal details of 220 million American voters. Trump said evidence backing the claim would be released soon.
The comments have quickly become a political flashpoint. Trump reiterated his long-standing claim that widespread fraud was responsible for his 2020 election loss. However, despite pressing his case forcefully, he did not present any concrete evidence demonstrating that votes were altered or that results were manipulated in the 2020 election. He further criticized the US electoral system as having failed, arguing that citizens can no longer trust that their votes are being properly counted.
China has strongly denied Trump’s allegations. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, Liu Pengyu, said US elections are an internal matter for the United States and that it is Beijing’s policy not to interfere in the affairs of other nations. He added that China has never interfered in US elections and has no intention of doing so in the future. Analysts, meanwhile, note that the allegations are not new, pointing out that intelligence reports had referenced Chinese analysis of voter data as far back as 2020.
With midterm elections approaching, Trump has demanded passage of the “Save America Act,” calling for sweeping changes to the voting process — chief among them, a complete ban on mail-in ballots. He also directed sharp criticism at television networks that did not broadcast his address live, demanding that their broadcasting licenses be revoked.
Opposition leaders have criticized Trump’s remarks as an attempt to shore up his political base by sowing distrust in the electoral system. They note that despite similar allegations made in the past, no evidence has ever surfaced showing fraud on a scale capable of actually influencing election outcomes — leaving Trump’s latest claims, for now, unproven and unverified.