President Donald Trump says China is intimidated by his intelligence and thus he will win on the trade issue.
At his press conference on Wednesday, Trump quoted Michael Pillsbury is the Director of the Center on Chinese Strategy, Hudson Institute, who was on cable news talking about negotiations between China and the U.S.
‘He was saying that China has total respect for Donald Trump and for Donald Trump’s very, very large brain. He said Donald Trump, they don’t know what to do,’ Trump said.
President Donald Trump says China is intimidated by his intelligence and thus he will win on the trade issue
Feet apart: Trump turned to China’s foreign minister Wang Yi and said: ‘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.’
Asked if he could provide evidence of Chinese attempts to interfere in the mid-term elections, the president argued there is evidence but that his relationship with China’s President Xi Jinping remains friendly.
‘We have evidence. It’ll come out. It didn’t come out of nowhere. They’ve actually admitted that they’re going after farmers. I like China, and I like President Xi a lot,’ Trump said.
Trump claimed at a United Nations Security Council meeting Wednesday that the Chinese are engaged in an active measures to disrupt the 2018 elections in retaliation for his hard-hitting tariffs.
Trump boldly accused China of working ‘against my administration’ to oust Republicans this fall as a tactic to evade punishing trade actions.
‘They do not want me, or us, to win, because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade,’ he declared. ‘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 doubled down on his charge in his nearly 90 minute press conference on Wednesday evening, when he talked about trade issues, his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and his meetings at the United Nations, among other topics.
He said China wants him to lose the election because of the heavy tariffs he placed on them.
‘They would like to see me lose an election because they’ve never been challenged like this. But I want to open up China to our farmers, and to our industrialists, and our companies. And China is not open. But we’re open to them,’ Trump complained.
The Chinese reiterated their long-standing principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries, in response during the security council meeting earlier in the day.
China’s foreign minister Wang Li told Trump to his face when it was his turn to talk, ‘We refuse to accept any unwarranted accusations against China.’
President Trump claimed at a United Nations Security Council meeting Wednesday that the Chinese are engaged in an active measures to disrupt the 2018 elections in retaliation for his hard-hitting tariffs
Trump boldly accused China of working ‘against my administration’ to oust Republicans this fall as a tactic to evade punishing trade actions as the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was sitting three seats to his left
Trump did not provide evidence in the speech for his claim that China is meddling in the U.S. election, but it followed an ad buy in a major U.S. paper located in a top agricultural hub by Chinese state media that pushed an anti-tariff line.
A four-page inset purchased by China Daily branded as a ‘China Watch’ section appeared in the Des Moines Register on Sunday. Experts say it was explicitly intended to undermine Trump.
Trump made a more pointed reference to the ad buy in a tweet after he closed up shop at the United Nations that said: ‘China is actually placing propaganda ads in the Des Moines Register and other papers, made to look like news.
‘That’s because we are beating them on Trade, opening markets, and the farmers will make a fortune when this is over!’ he asserted.
The White House did not provide any examples of election meddling in a hastily scheduled call on ‘Chinese interference’ on Wednesday afternoon with a senior administration official.
The aide said that the influence campaign goes beyond U.S. elections to the media that can and cannot be consumed. The person noted that American films with content the Chinese government doesn’t approve of are commonly blacklisted. Journalists from American media outlets who are critical of China often have trouble renewing visas and are sometimes booted out.
Trump made the charged claim with members of the Chinese delegation, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, sitting three seats down. Like the U.S., China has a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Wang denied that his country does not and will not interfere in any other nation’s domestic affairs. He called Trump’s claims an ‘unwarranted accusation’ that he said Beijing would refuse to accept.