Beijing denies Trump claim China wants him to lose re-election

Beijing has no interest in interfering in the U.S. election, China's foreign ministry said, after President Donald Trump said China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak is linked to its hope Trump will lose re-election.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

China's foreign ministry is rejecting notions by U.S. President Donald Trump that Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak is linked to China's hope Trump will lose re-election in November.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang on Thursday (April 30): (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) SPOKESMAN OF CHINA FOREIGN MINISTRY, GENG SHUANG, SAYING: "We have reiterated many times that the U.S. election is the U.S.'s own internal affair.

China is not interested in interfering.

At the same time, we hope the people of the U.S. will not drag China into its electoral politics." Trump made the allegation in an exclusive interview with Reuters a day earlier, saying "China will do anything they can to have me lose this race." It's a different tone from the first three months of the year, when Trump repeated lavished praise on Chinese leader Xi Jinping's response to the outbreak, with statements like these: (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING (JANUARY 29) "We're very much involved with them right now on the virus that's going around.

We're working very closely.

I spoke to President Xi.

We're working very closely with China" (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING (FEBRUARY 26) "He is so committed to solving that problem." (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING (MARCH 21) "I think the people of China are incredible." It wasn't until the end of March that his tone began to shift.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING (MARCH 21): "I wished they could've told us earlier about what was going on inside.

We didn't know about it until it started coming out publicly." The U.S. president is also angry at the World Health Organization, accusing the WHO of parroting Chinese propaganda about the pandemic, and taking Chinese leaders at their word.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING (WEDNESDAY): "You know, right now, they're literally a pipe organ for China." The Republican president is often accused of not acting early enough against a virus that has killed at least 60,000 people in the United States, and thrown the U.S. economy into a deep recession, putting in jeopardy his hopes for another four-year term.