Beijing has officially condemned Saturday's gun attack at the Correspondents' Dinner, where a man opened fire and forced the evacuation of President Donald Trump, according to Reuters.
“China is closely following the armed incident. China always opposes and condemns illegal and violent acts,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing on Monday.
Leaders around the world, including Britain, Israel, India and the European Union, expressed shock at the event and sent messages of solidarity, stressing that political violence has no place in a democracy.
During dinner on Saturday, Donald and Melania Trump were evacuated from the Washington Hilton hotel after a man opened fire. The president later confirmed that an officer had been shot but his life was saved. The suspect, identified as Cole Allen, was taken into custody at the scene.
In an intervention on Fox News, Trump characterized the suspect as a “sick and very disturbed person”, adding that he appeared to be “strongly anti-Christian”. “He's going to have some big problems for the rest of his life,” the US leader said.
The intent to kill Trump as well as other dignitaries was confirmed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“We are still investigating the motive and that will take us at least two days. We believe he was targeting administration officials in this attempt,” Blanche told NBC News. He also said the suspect was stopped just a few steps after he managed to get past the security perimeter.
