Bob Mackin
Last year, the Hogue Commission confirmed China meddled in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
In a July 16 televised speech, President Donald Trump said China, Russia and Iran sought to sway the 2020 Presidential election — won by Joe Biden, but disputed by Trump.
The White House released a trove of declassified documents, including a National Intelligence Council (NIC) assessment from Aug. 19, 2020, as part of Trump’s promotion of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. The bill, known as SAVE America, would require voter identification and restrict vote-by-mail. Critics say it would disenfranchise millions of people who lack ID and likely favour the Republicans.
The NIC assessment warned that foreign states would use covert and overt influence to sway U.S. voters, shift policies and increase discord.
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in May 2026 in Beijing. (White House)
“Foreign states or other actors may seek to compromise our election infrastructure for a range of possible purposes, such as interfering with the voting process, stealing sensitive data, or calling into question the validity of the election results,” the NIC said. “We judge that Russia, China, Iran, as well as many non-state actors, have the capability to conduct such activities, although it would be difficult for them to manipulate voting processes at scale and without detection.”
The assessment said Russia used proxies to spread claims about Biden. Some Kremlin-linked actors boosted Trump on social media. Iran conducted a campaign to undermine Trump and democratic institutions and to divide the country before the election. China preferred a Trump defeat.
“China uses mostly enticements and occasionally coercion to extract more pro-China positions and to punish those whom Beijing views as opposed to China’s interests,” NIC said. “It also employs disinformation and critical statements attacking the U.S. government‘s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues, such as the closure of the Houston consulate, Hong Kong, the legal status of the South China Sea and China’s efforts to dominate the 5G market.”
The scope and scale of China’s activity at the state and local levels far outpaced Russia, while Russia leaked more intelligence-acquired information than Iran.
A July 1, 2020 CIA world intelligence review (WiRe), said Chinese state actors were targeting Biden’s campaign for the November election.
China’s APT31 hackers — linked to the Ministry of State Security — targeted personal email accounts of senior U.S. leaders, including officials in the President’s office.
Tactics included spearfishing emails by Gmail and collection of information from U.S. voter databases, polling data and political and non-profit organizations, fundraisers and advisory organizations.
Another declassified report said a Chinese computer network exploitation actor downloaded 2013 to 2021 voter registration information for Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island from commercial websites in January 2022.
CIA said the information — names, party affiliations, street addresses, email addresses and phone numbers — could be used for election interference operations.
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