China has issued a complete rejection of Donald Trump's claims that Beijing sought to manipulate the results of the 2020 election, as the President's landmark state visit with Xi Jinping now hangs in the balance. Trump made a series of explosive allegations about the 2020 election on Thursday night, including that China hacked American voter files, harvested the personal data of 220 million voters, and that his own intelligence agencies buried the evidence. China's Foreign Ministry responded via a spokesperson calling Trump's accusation 'entirely fabricated.' Asked if Trump's comments risk China canceling Xi's upcoming visit to the US in September, a spokesperson warned, 'As I just said, we urge the US to stop making an issue of China in its elections and do something conducive to China-US relations.' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News that Xi's visit was still on track.

Trump alleged in his speech: 'The People's Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China's illicit acquisition of 220 million US voter files.' 'That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences, and other sensitive data,' he added. Trump further claimed that a 'data exploitation unit' in mainland China was tasked with hacking the data. No evidence of voting machine insecurity or fraud in the 2020 election has been established.

China's foreign ministry noted in its denial that the country has 'no interest in interfering in US elections and has never done so.' The Beijing spokesman added that Trump's claims were 'aimed at vilifying China' and accused Washington of 'wantonly' interfering in other countries' democratic elections. Although China issued a firm denial, the foreign ministry did not threaten any diplomatic retaliation or demand a retraction. Xi is currently due to arrive to New York City on September 24 for the United National General Assembly. The visit will be Xi's first state visit to the US by a Chinese leader in more than a decade.

Trump personally extended the invitation to Xi at a state banquet during his own trip to Beijing last May. Trump and Xi's summit is expected to tackle trade and technology disputes between the world's two largest economies. The President's decision to revive his 2020 grievances comes less than four months before November's midterm elections. Democrats have accused him of laying the groundwork to cast doubt on results he dislikes. 'Our purpose in disclosing this information is not to weaken confidence in elections, but to earn that confidence by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very, very quickly,' Trump said during his speech. 'And that’s what we’re doing.'