Why US Is Worried About China As The Midterms Unfold

It appears that the United States of America is being served a taste of its medicine.

The White House is now sounding alarmed over the interference of China in its ongoing midterm elections. Both, Russia and the United States have an elaborate history of interference with the elections of other countries. 

Ahead of the 2020 elections which President Joe Biden won eventually, a political scientist from Hong Kong, Dov H. Levin, released a book where he claimed that as many as 60 foreign elections have been meddled with, and while Russia was likely to interfere with elections in Russia, Americans were concerned with the ones in Asia. 

Methods to meddle in an election, as per Levin, include huge monetary support, similar to that of the mafia, threats ahead of the elections by the intervening government, coaching favourable party operatives for campaigns and vote garnering techniques, and even economic concessions.

In the digital age, it extends to social media targeting and information warfare. 

Earlier this year, in September, US Federal Officials had warned the state and local officials, as per a report in Axios, stating that China was likely to meddle in the midterms to hinder candidates who took an adversarial position against Beijing.

Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the same allegation against China.

Even Meta (previously Facebook) announced in the same month that they were shutting down messaging campaigns, linked to Chinese accounts, that were aimed at the toss-up seats in critical states ahead of the midterms. 

In 2018, President Trump declared at the United Nations that China would meddle in the midterms then.

Also Read: Long Read: Not Just WHO, China Has Been Influencing Other UN Institutions For Years

How China’s Communist Party Is Infiltrating The Global Media Circuit