China accused President Trump of slander on Thursday after he claimed Beijing was interfering in November’s midterm elections because of his tough stand on trade.
“We advise the US to stop this unceasing criticism and slander of China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. “Stop these wrong words and deeds that damage bilateral relations and the basic interests of both countries’ peoples.”
Trump laid out the allegation Wednesday when he chaired a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
“Regrettably, we found that China has been trying to interfere in 2018 election against my administration,” the president said. “They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president to challenge China on trade, and we are winning on trade.”
Trump didn’t offer any evidence during his remarks at the UN, but later he tweeted photos of a four-page advertising insert in the Sunday edition of the Des Moines Register that was paid for by China Daily, a Chinese state-run media.
The articles described the trade war as “the fruit of the president’s folly” and said importers in China are turning to South American markets for soybeans and bypassing US farmers.
Trump referred to the ads in Iowa’s largest newspaper as “propaganda” and said China is taking action because “we are beating them on Trade.”
But Geng dismissed concerns about the advertorial, saying the supplement was “regular cooperation” between foreign media and an American news outlet.
“To describe this as the Chinese government’s attempt to intervene in the US elections is purely far-fetched and false,” he said.
The US and China have been embroiled in a tense trade war for months.
A 10 percent tariff the US imposed on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods took effect Monday.
That’s on top of levies already affecting $50 billion worth of Chinese products.
In retaliation, China slapped tariffs on $110 billion of US goods, targeting soybeans and other agricultural products aimed to hit Trump’s core supporters the hardest.
With Post wires
