Xinhua Commentary: Blaming China won't fix America's election woes

BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Six years after the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the White House has once again revived the discredited narrative of "Chinese interference," seeking to turn a baseless accusation into a domestic political weapon.

Despite newly declassified documents, the White House has once again failed to produce evidence supporting its bizarre claims.

In fact, the strongest rebuttal comes from Washington itself. The U.S. intelligence community has previously concluded China did not interfere in the 2020 election. A 2021 U.S. intelligence assessment found no indication that any foreign actor attempted to or succeeded in altering any technical aspect of the 2020 election, including voter registrations, ballots, vote tabulation or election results.

Some of the newly declassified documents reinforce that conclusion, acknowledging that U.S. election systems "would be difficult to manipulate on a wide enough scale to compromise election results."

The latest claims have drawn immediate criticism. U.S. Democratic Senator Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the narrative of "Chinese interference" "totally bogus," stressing that U.S. intelligence agencies "unanimously agreed that China did not even try to change a single vote in the 2020 election."

China has repeatedly made its position clear. It has never interfered, and has no intention of interfering, in U.S. elections. China consistently adheres to the foreign policy principle of non-interference in other countrie's internal affairs.

The timing of the renewed allegations is equally telling. With the two major parties locked in an increasingly bitter contest ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, resurrecting claims of "Chinese interference" serves as a convenient political talking point.

America's election controversies stem from its own deep political divisions, not from imaginary foreign plots. Recycling unsubstantiated accusations against China neither strengthens voters' confidence in the U.S. electoral system nor addresses the country's internal challenges. ■