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Ties between the United States and China have grown increasingly strained in recent years under incumbent Donald Trump’s administration, and relations are as cold as at any time since formal ties were established four decades ago.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden watches as he speaks at Queen’s headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 5, 2020. Image: AFP.
BEIJING – China congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden on Friday almost a week after he was declared the winner of the US election.
Ties between the United States and China have grown increasingly strained in recent years under incumbent Donald Trump’s administration, and relations are as cold as at any time since formal ties were established four decades ago.
“We respect the choice of the American people. We extend our congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news conference, referring to incoming Vice President Kamala Harris.
Wang said China understands that “the outcome of the US elections will be determined in accordance with US laws and procedures.”
China was previously among a handful of major countries, including Russia and Mexico, that had not congratulated the president-elect, and Beijing commented earlier this week simply that it had “noticed that Biden declared he was the winner.”
Since the US media called for the presidential race, Trump has not awarded Biden as is traditional practice once a winner is projected.
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 arguing over blame for the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s human rights record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. .
Under his slogan “America First,” Trump has presented China as the greatest threat to America and world democracy.
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