Chinese President Xi Sends Message to Joe Biden
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated presumptive President-elect Joe Biden Wednesday for being elected as the president of the United States.
“Promoting healthy and stable development of China-U.S. relations not only serves the fundamental interests of the people in both countries, but also meets the common expectation of the international community,” Xi said, according to state-run Xinhua news outlet.
The Chinese president “hopes that the two sides will uphold the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, focus on cooperation, manage differences, advance the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. ties, and join hands with other countries and the international community to promote the noble cause of world peace and development,” Xinhua added.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan sent a similar congratulatory message to Sen. Kamala Harris.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman congratulated Biden and Harris on Nov. 13 but acknowledged “we understand that the outcome of this U.S. election will be ascertained in accordance with U.S. laws and procedures,” The Associated Press reported.
China became one of the last major governments to congratulate Biden.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga have all publicly congratulated the presumptive president-elect, according to The Hill.
The congratulatory messages come as Biden creates his national security team and determines how he will handle the strained relationship between the U.S. and China.
Tensions have risen over the past year as President Donald Trump blamed China for the coronavirus outbreak.
Trump also signed an executive order this month that would allow the U.S. to blacklist Chinese companies the administration says are connected to the Chinese military.
“If the incoming Biden administration takes a different direction on China policy, which is quite likely, this temporary fix will be deactivated in a year’s time,” Weifeng Zhong, a senior fellow from George Mason University, told The Hill.
“But because security threats from the Chinese regime are a long-term issue, it’s unwise for policymakers to take a shortcut that doesn’t last.”
The Trump administration and China have also clashed over trade and tariffs and control in the South China Sea.
In 2018, Trump raised tariffs on Chinese products following complaints that Beijing tries to pressure companies to give them technology, the AP reported.
“We expect that a potential Biden administration will take a tough stance on China,” Rob Strayer, a former Trump administration official, told The Wall Street Journal.
Biden’s advisers have said that the presumptive Biden administration will have an open dialogue between the two countries to solve issues like climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to work with other nations to meet global challenges that impact us all, starting by rebuilding our relationships with our closest partners,” Biden wrote in an October Op-Ed for the World Journal.
During his campaign, Biden expressed concern about China using technology to advance state control, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“As the vice president [Biden] sees it, there’s a division in the world between techno-democracies and techno-autocracies,” Antony Blinken, the Biden campaign’s senior foreign-policy adviser, said.
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