The Chinese embassy in the US has said its Twitter account was hacked after it retweeted a baseless claim from President Donald Trump that the Democrats cheated in the election.
“If somebody cheated in the Election, which the Democrats did, why wouldn’t the Election be immediately overturned? How can a Country be run like this?,” Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday, without any evidence.
The social media post was retweeted by the Chinese embassy – and the moment was captured by a Reuters reporter who posted an image of the retweet on his Twitter account and wrote: “Interesting retweet.”
The Chinese embassy claimed it was hacked and had not retweeted anything on Wednesday.
It tweeted: “The Chinese Embassy twitter account was hacked this afternoon and we condemn such an act. For clarification, the Embassy didn’t do any retweeting on Dec.9.”
Twitter had labelled Mr Trump’s tweet, saying: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”
Mr Trump has consistently made allegations about voter and election fraud without offering any proof – claims that have been repeatedly rejected by state and federal officials.
In his latest legal effort to overturn the election, the president and the 17 states that backed him have thrown their weight behind a Texas lawsuit against the states of Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The president is asking the Supreme Court to prevent those states from participating in the all-important Electoral College vote on Monday.
Election law experts have said the Texas lawsuit stands little chance of success and lacks legal merit.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Donald Trump says Democrats ‘cheated’
The retweet dispute also comes just days after China criticised the US over sanctions against Chinese officials for their actions in Hong Kong.
China’s foreign ministry summoned the top US diplomat in China to express “strong indignation and strong condemnation” and vowed to take “reciprocal” action.
The US on Monday imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on 14 Chinese officials over their role in adopting a national security law for Hong Kong, and Beijing’s disqualification last month of elected opposition legislators in Hong Kong.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
China’s grip on Hong Kong tightens
China has been accused of breaking the “one country, two systems” pledge to maintain greater political and economic freedoms, made when the UK handed back the territory in 1997.
Many around the world believe the territory’s controversial new security law will violate Hong Kong’s traditional liberties, including a free press, independent judiciary, and the right to protest.
Beijing insists Hong Kong’s freedoms will be protected and that the law is necessary to restore order to the city.