Washington, Dec. 31, (dpa/GNA) – US President Donald Trump has been briefed on alleged intelligence findings indicating that China has offered money to non-state actors in Afghanistan to attack US soldiers in the country, according to media reports.
The allegations were published on Wednesday by news site Axios and TV network CNN citing senior administration officials and are likely to further strain US relations with China.
Axios reported that the president was briefed on the intelligence on December 17 and that officials were working to corroborate the claims.
In the summer, reports of alleged intelligence on Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan had Washington in turmoil.
Trump, however, had always dismissed the reports as “fake news.”
It was initially unclear whether Trump’s successor in the White House had also been briefed on the findings. Democrat Joe Biden, whose inauguration is scheduled for January 20, also receives intelligence briefings.
US-China relations have been highly strained especially over trade and intellectual property. The US has also been human rights concerns, such as about the persecution of the Uighur Muslim minority in China’s Xinjiang or democracy in Hong Kong.
GNA