China has boosted its efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election in November and wants President Donald Trump to lose because it sees him as “unpredictable,” a top U.S. intelligence official said Friday.
“We assess that China prefers that President Trump — whom Beijing sees as unpredictable — does not win re-election,” said William Evanina, Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.
“China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of November 2020 to shape the policy environment in the United States, pressure political figures it views as opposed to China’s interests, and deflect and counter criticism of China,” Mr. Evanina said in a statement. He pointed to China’s criticism of Mr. Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 epidemic, of the U.S. closure of China’s Houston consulate, and of the U.S. administration’s stances on Chinese actions in Hong Kong and the South China Sea. “Beijing recognises that all of these efforts might affect the presidential race,” said Mr. Evanina.
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Mr. Trump enthusiastically agreed with the warning, which cast him as a threat to Beijing. “China would love us to have an election where Donald Trump lost to sleepy Joe Biden,” he told journalists.
Mr. Evanina said Iran is using social media disinformation to divide the country and hurt Mr. Trump, while Russia is meddling to damage the campaign of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden. “This is consistent with Moscow’s public criticism of him when he was Vice-President for his role in the Obama administration’s policies on Ukraine and its support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia,” he said.
Mr. Trump dismissed the warning that Russia wanted him to see him re-elected, claiming that no U.S. leader has been tougher on Moscow than him.
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