President Trump briefed on Chinese attempts to fund insurgents in Afghanistan

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump received unconfirmed information that China sought to pay non-state actors to attack American forces in Afghanistan.

As reported by CNN, according to a senior administration official, the classified intelligence (which is expected to be declassified by the Trump Administration) was presented to the President in his daily briefing on the 17th of December, and was delved into further detail with the President's national security adviser.

While these allegations are undoubtedly serious, information pertaining to this alleged interference remains uncorroborated, but are reminiscent of reports from earlier this year, which claimed that Russia has offered Afghan insurgents bounties to kill American forces in Afghanistan.

Reportedly, that information appeared in the President's intelligence briefing, and went unnoticed for weeks, as President Trump has yet to call Russia out on the matter.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Wang Wenbin, Spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described the accusation as slanderous, stating that it was "completely nonsense and completely fake news".

Wenbin mentioned that "[China] has always pursued an independent foreign policy of peace" and "never initiated a war to others, let alone funded non-state actors to attack other countries"; adding that "China supports the process of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, and does not get involved in the internal conflicts in Afghanistan".

The Biden transition team also stated that they would not speak on the matter due to the uncorroborated nature of the intelligence, adding that the President-elect has "no greater concern than the safety of our service members".

The White House has yet to comment on the matter.