Nearly a week after Joe Biden was elected as the President of the United States, China has congratulated the leader.
“We respect the choice of the American people. We express our congratulations to Mr Biden and Ms Harris,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin at a press conference.
After a nail-biting election day that extended by nearly a week, Democrat Joe Biden won the mantle of the 46th president of the United States of America on 7 November, and Kamala Harris became the Vice President-elect.
China understands “the result of the US election will be determined in accordance with US laws and procedures,” he said.
Just like China, other countries such as Russia and Mexico, too, had not congratulated the President-elect.
In 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Trump on 9 November, a day after the election.
Though the US and international media have declared Biden as the US President-elect, Trump has not conceded to Biden, as is also the norm every election season when a winner is projected. Since China wouldn’t want to antagonise Trump, they might have refrained, Channel News Asia reported.
The relations between United States and China have been strained in the recent years, especially under the administration of incumbent US President Donald Trump.
Trump has blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic and called China the greatest threat to the United States and global democracy.
Experts believe that one of the most important tasks on Biden’s agenda would be to reset diplomatic relations with China because the United States needs China to rejuvenate the economy, address global issues such as climate change, curb the surge of COVID-19 and a host of other issues. However, only time will tell how Biden will craft this association.
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