Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday congratulated Joe Biden on his US election victory, state media reported.
In his telegram, Xi said both countries should “stick to no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect, (and) the spirit of win-win cooperation” in order to promote the “noble cause” of world peace and development.
This comes weeks after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing that “We have been following the reaction on this US presidential election from both within the United States and from the international community.
“We respect the American people’s choice and extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Wenbin added.
China’s acknowledgement came after multiple television networks projected Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump.
Major world leaders had congratulated Biden and Kamala Harris for defeating the Republican candidate but China was one of the few countries including Russia and Mexico that had so far withheld comment, as Trump contested the results.
US-China ties have grown increasingly strained in recent years under the Trump administration and relations are as icy as at any time since formal ties were established four decades ago.
Trump’s four years in the White House have been marked by a costly trade war between the two powers, with Beijing and Washington also sparring over blame for the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s human rights record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
