China congratulates Joe Biden on presidency after week-long silence
China’s foreign ministry has broken its week-long silence to congratulate US President-elect Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris on their White House victory.
“We respect the choice of the American people. We extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular daily briefing.
In a faint nod to incumbent Donald Trump’s legal quibbles over the election results, the spokesperson added: “We understand the results of the US election will be determined according to US laws and procedures.”
Trump has fervently contested the election results and pinned Biden’s presidential victory on baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. The Trump campaign is pursuing lawsuits in several key US states.
The Republican last night issued an order banning American investments in Chinese firms with ties to Beijing’s military.
In an executive order, the outgoing US President said he found China was “increasingly exploiting United States capital to resource and to enable the development and modernization of its military”.
The move was widely acknowledged as an attempt by Trump to take advantage of the waning months of his administration to ramp up pressure on Beijing.
It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said Moscow will “wait” for an official result for the US presidential election.
“We believe it would be proper to wait for an official announcement” of the election results, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Both Putin and Chinese premier Xi Jinping remained notably reticent while most world leaders rushed to shore up relations with Biden following his election to the White House last Saturday,.
It comes despite Xi congratulating Trump on his success in the 2016 presidential election, with China’s president calling for a “stable” relationship between the two nations.
But relations between Washington and Beijing have soured over the past four years, with Trump making anti-China rhetoric a key foundation of his presidency.
The President earlier this year ordered a nationwide ban on Chinese-owned video app Tiktok, and has repeatedly referred to coronavirus as “the China virus”.