BEIJING: Beijing accused US President Donald Trump of making “fabrications” on Friday, after he said China had meddled in US election data, reviving his long-standing baseless claims of voter fraud ahead of midterm polls many expect him to dispute. Trump said in a White House address on Thursday that the US electoral system had been dangerously exposed and urged lawmakers to adopt new restrictions on voting, despite scant appetite for the measures even within his Republican Party.

In his prime-time address on Thursday evening, Trump accused China of carrying out what he claimed was the “largest compromise of election data in history.”

The US president made broad election security claims, laying groundwork for the federal government to take action.