Trump accuses China of seeking to meddle in US congressional elections

U.S. President Donald Trump accused China of seeking to meddle in the Nov. 6 U.S. congressional elections on Wednesday, saying Beijing did not want his Republican Party to do well because of his stance on trade.

“China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election, coming up in November. Against my administration,” Trump told a U.N. Security Council meeting whose ostensible subject was on nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and Iran.

Trump did not provide any evidence for the allegation. China did not immediately respond to the remarks by Trump, who was chairing the Council meeting.

“They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade and we are winning on trade, we are winning at every level. We don’t want them to meddle or interfere in our upcoming election,” Trump said.

Trump himself is not up for re-election until 2020 but November’s voting will decide whether his Republican party can keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

U.S. intelligence agency conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote have hung over Trump’s presidency. In July at a summit in Helsinki, Trump accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials and the U.S. president describes investigations as a political witch hunt.

Reporting By Yara Bayoumy, Steve Holland and Michelle Nichols; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; editing by Grant McCool