Possible interference from Beijing looms over elections
Possible interference from Beijing looms over elections
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Possible interference from Beijing looms over elections
, author of Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios Democratic countries are sounding the alarm about Chinese government efforts to illicitly influence their elections. The big picture: Governments, including Russia and ., have long-documented histories of interfering with or attempting to influence the elections of other countries. Recent campaigns indicate that China is now getting into the game as well. Driving the news: U.S. federal officials state and local officials in September that China likely is aiming to meddle in congressional races to "hinder candidates perceived to be particularly adversarial to Beijing."Meta in September that it shut down an inauthentic messaging campaign involving China-linked accounts that were promoting highly polarizing content targeted at U.S. voters in swing states.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau China on Monday of "aggressive" interference in Canada's elections. Flashback: The U.S. has previously accused China of election interference. President Trump at the United Nations in 2018 that China was trying to interfere in the U.S. midterm elections. In 2020, Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien Beijing had "taken the most active role" of any foreign government in trying to influence U.S. elections and other domestic political processes. Between the lines: "China’s latest efforts to sow doubt about U.S. election integrity are consistent with Xi’s stated goal of championing China’s autocratic model as a 'new choice for humanity,'" Craig Singleton, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in Foreign Policy magazine. "Policymakers must make clear to Beijing that election meddling will not go unpunished. Upcoming meetings between democratic leaders and Xi at the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, are as good a place to deliver that message as any." The Chinese government denies that it engages in election interference and typically points to election meddling committed in the U.S., .