The Chinese Communist Party on Thursday responded to President Trump’s assertion that Beijing was trying to thwart his re-election efforts by its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The U.S. presidential election is an internal affair, we have no interest in interfering in it,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters during a daily briefing. “We hope the people of the U.S. will not drag China into its election politics.”
“China will do anything they can to have me lose this race,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, adding that the Communist Party in Beijing is “constantly using public relations to try to make it like they’re innocent parties.”
The president said he believes Chinese officials are backing his opponent Joe Biden because Trump has been tough with them by imposing tariffs and pressuring them to do a fair trade deal.
“For some time, certain U.S. politicians, in disregard of the facts, have attempted to shift their own responsibility for their poor handling of the epidemic to others,” Geng said. “The US should know this: the enemy is the virus, not China.”
Trump has blasted China for not accurately reporting the number of cases in the country since the outbreak began in the city of Wuhan in December.
He has also accused Chinese Communist Party of downplaying the severity of the outbreak and pressuring the World Health Organization to go along with its disinformation.