The U.S. has seen evidence of Chinese attempts to "influence and arguably interfere" with the upcoming elections, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken disclosed on Friday.
His comments came during an interview with CNN at the end of his three-day trip to China. Blinken had met with top officials in China, including President Xi Jinping, who had previously made a commitment to President Joe Biden that China would not interfere in the elections.
Xi, while meeting with Biden in November, had said China would stay out of the 2024 election
Biden and Xi had met for the first time in a year when they attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.
Biden raised the issue of potential Chinese election interference. Xi, in a brief exchange, said China would not interfere in the election,
But Blinken said on Friday: "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," when he was asked whether China was violating Xi's commitment to Biden so far.
"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 said.
He added there was concern about China and other countries playing on existing social divisions in the U.S. in influence campaigns.
China has repeatedly maintained it does not interfere in U.S. elections, based on its principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs. However, China or actors that are believed to be affiliated with Beijing, have been accused of political interference in other countries.
Meanwhile, Blinken warned China that further action might be taken by the U.S. in addition to existing sanctions for its support of Russia.
The U.S. has said that Chinese support is enabling Russia to increase production of tanks, munitions, and armored vehicles — and to continue its war on Ukraine, CNN reported.
"What we said to China is this; We're going to take actions [that] we already have, and if it doesn't stop, we're going to have to take more action, and you can anticipate as well, that other countries will [as well]," Blinken said. "We're looking to them to act, and … if they don't, we will."