Chinese embassy blames hackers for retweeting Donald Trump’s claim that Democrats cheated in the election
- Twitter users noticed China appearing to endorse Trump’s unfounded claims
- But the embassy said last night that it was hacked and did not retweet anything
- China acknowledged Joe Biden’s presidential election victory on November 13
The Chinese embassy in Washington has claimed its Twitter account was hacked after it appeared to retweet Donald Trump‘s unfounded claims of election fraud.
Eagle-eyed Twitter users noticed on Wednesday that the official Chinese account had shared the tweet, in which Trump claimed that Democrats ‘cheated’ in the election – weeks after Beijing officially acknowledged Joe Biden‘s victory.
But the embassy denied involvement late last night, saying that ‘the Chinese embassy Twitter account was hacked this afternoon and we condemn such an act’.
‘For clarification, the embassy didn’t do any retweeting on December 9’, Beijing’s diplomatic mission said.
President Trump repeated his unfounded claims of election fraud on Wednesday
Twitter users were surprised when the Chinese embassy appeared to retweet Trump’s claims
But China insisted late last night that it had been hacked and had not retweeted anything
Like many of Trump’s post-election ramblings, Trump’s original tweet was marked with a warning that ‘this claim about election fraud is disputed’.
China was conspicuously cautious in acknowledging Trump’s election defeat even after Joe Biden was widely declared as the winner on November 7.
But six days later, Beijing offered its congratulations to Biden, saying that ‘we respect the choice of the American people’.
‘We understand the results of the US election will be determined according to US laws and procedures,’ the foreign ministry added.
Relations between China and the United States are at their worst in decades over disputes ranging from technology and trade to Hong Kong and the coronavirus.
The Trump administration has unleashed a barrage of sanctions against Beijing and ramped up tariffs on Chinese goods.
The US has also pressured its allies to drop Chinese tech firm Huawei from their 5G systems over fears that Beijing will use them as a backdoor for espionage.
China has officially acknowledged that the winner of the election was Joe Biden
This year, Donald Trump has openly blamed China for causing the pandemic and pulled US funding for the WHO after accusing it of being too close to Beijing.
On top of that, America has bolstered support for Taiwan, criticised China’s security crackdown in Hong Kong and rejected Chinese claims in the South China Sea.
And the rivalry intensified further last week when a Chinese spacecraft flew the country’s flag on the moon, echoing NASA’s achievements of the 20th century.
Political analysts expect few big changes in US-China under Biden’s administration, partly due to widespread frustration with Beijing’s trade and human rights record and accusations of spying and technology theft.
However, they expect Biden to try to resume cooperation with Beijing on climate change, North Korea, Iran and the coronavirus.
The president-elect has also vowed to work with ‘allies and others, including China’ to bring about denuclearisation in North Korea.
But Biden has also accused China of ‘trade abuses’ and vowed to pursue a policy to ‘win the competition for the future against China’ and other rivals.