Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has seen evidence of attempts by China to "influence and arguably interfere" with the presidential election in November.
"We have seen ... evidence of attempts to influence and arguably interfere, and we want to make surethat's cut off as quickly as possible," Blinken told CNN in an interview Friday. He spoke at the end of his three-day trip to China where he met personally with leader Xi Jinping.
"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," Blinken responded when asked whether China was adhering to Xi's promise to President Joe Biden not to try to steer the election.
America's top diplomat told the cable network that there was concern that China and other countries could try to exploit existing social divisions in the United States to sway the vote.
When Xi and Bush met in San Francisco in November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the Chinese leader assured Biden that China wouldn't interfere in the presidential election, CNN reported.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated Xi's commitment in a statement to CNN at the time.
"China's position has been consistent and clear: We always adhere to the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs. US general elections are US internal affairs and who becomes the next president is up to the American people. China does not interfere in U.S. elections," the statement said.
