{"id":4269,"date":"2026-07-18T14:23:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextstoryus.com\/?p=4269"},"modified":"2026-07-18T14:23:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:23:47","slug":"trumps-chinese-interference-claims-reveal-huge-crisis-facing-american-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextstoryus.com\/?p=4269","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Chinese interference claims \u2018reveal huge crisis facing American democracy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s latest diatribe against China over alleged election meddling has laid bare a \u201chuge crisis\u201d within America\u2019s democratic system, a prominent adviser to Beijing has suggested. Zheng Yongnian, a leading political scientist, said the claims were campaign rhetoric for November\u2019s midterm elections and unlikely to have a significant impact on the China-US relationship. Instead of repeatedly shifting blame onto other countries, Washington should reflect on how to reform its own democracy, he said in an interview. During a prime-time address from the White House on Thursday (Washington time), Trump accused China of interfering in the 2020 US presidential race \u2013 which he lost to Joe Biden. In a speech lasting nearly 30 minutes, he further claimed that Beijing orchestrated \u201cwhat is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history\u201d, leading to the \u201cillicit acquisition\u201d of 220 million US voter files.<\/p>\n

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The US president also argued that intelligence documents had revealed \u201cshocking vulnerabilities\u201d in the country\u2019s election infrastructure, leaving it exposed to \u201chacking, exploitation, and foreign interference\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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\u201cIf US elections can be so easily interfered with by other countries, then there must be something wrong with the electoral system and even the democratic system of the US,\u201d said Zheng, who is dean of the school of public policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. \u201cI do think that American democracy needs to have changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the US voting system operated in a \u201cprimitive\u201d manner and pointed to efforts by various states to redraw their electoral maps,\u00a0which have prompted accusations of gerrymandering<\/span>.<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen a party gains power and still insists on redrawing electoral districts to benefit itself, that is no longer democracy \u2013 it is already a manipulated version of democracy,\u201d Zheng said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDemocracy is no longer a value in the US, but merely a tool manipulated by politicians and political parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the more this happens, the more it reveals the huge crisis facing American democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zheng said the US had long portrayed itself as the \u201cbeacon\u201d of democracy, yet had been reluctant to make reforms, which meant things were \u201cgetting worse and worse\u201d.<\/p>\n

If Americans \u201ctruly recognise the flaws in their democratic system\u201d, they should be thinking about how to change it \u201crather than constantly shifting blame\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

Zheng also said Trump\u2019s latest claims about Chinese interference were nothing new, but previous investigations had found no evidence of it happening.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Allegations of] foreign interference have always been part of US electoral politics,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

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