Blinken says US has seen evidence of China meddling in presidential elections

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday (Apr 26) that his nation has seen evidence of China's interference in the US elections despite earlier commitments byChinese President Xi Jinping not to do so. “We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that’s cut off as quickly as possible,” Blinken said in an interview with CNN.

“Any interference by China in our election is something that we’re looking very carefully at and is totally unacceptable to us, so I wanted to make sure that they heard that message again,” he added.

Last November, during a summit between Xi and US President Joe Biden, China had promised not to take any action that might impact the democratic election process in the US presidential elections.

Xi-Blinken meeting

Xi Jinping metBlinken in Beijing on Friday (Apr 26), state media reported.

Xi toldBlinken that the world's two biggest economies should be partners, not rivals, but there were numerous issues to be resolved in their relations.

Xi met Blinken in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Friday (Apr 26) and said the two countries had made some positive progress since he met with US President Joe Biden last year, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

"There are still various issues that need to be resolved, and further efforts are still needed," Xi said.

"I proposed three major principles: mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation," Xi further added.

"China would be happy to see a prosperous and developing United States," the Chinese leader said.

Talking about their relations, he said, “When this fundamental problem is solved, relations can truly stabilise, get better, and move forward. We hope the US can also take a positive view of China's development.”

Blinken earlier held a meeting with counterpart Wang Yi for more than five and a half hours, which the US diplomat called extensive and constructive.

During the meeting,Antony Blinken expressed concern about China's support for Russia.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, "Blinken discussed concerns about PRC support to the Russian defence industrial base along with issues relating to Taiwan, the South China Sea, and the Middle East, referring to China by its official acronym."

During the opening session, Wang remarked to Blinken that the great ship of US-China relations had been stable, but negative factors in the relationship were still on the rise.

"The relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions. China's legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges," he said.

Blinken replied that active diplomacywas needed to move forward with the agenda set by President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping when they met in San Francisco in November.

"There's no substitute in our judgement for face-to-face diplomacy," Blinken said, adding that he wanted to ensure that "we're as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations".

Prior to the meeting, US State Department officials had indicated that China's support for Russia would be the key topic, saying that Washington is ready to take action against Chinese companies involved in retooling and resupplying Russia's defence industry amid the war against Ukraine.

In spite of high-level meetings and working groups tackling issues such as enhanced military communication and global trade, tensions remain. The US is keen to see more progress on the matter of China limitingthe supply of the chemicals used to make fentanyl.

Blinken arrived in Beijing on Thursday (Apr 25) from Shanghai, where he urged China to provide a level playing field for US businesses.

(With inputs from agencies)