Chinese President Xi Jinping has congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential election and called for stable relations between the world's two largest economies, UNN reports citing Bloomberg.
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The Chinese leader has sent a congratulatory message to the US president-elect and expressed a desire to keep the relationship "healthy and sustainable," state-run China Central Television reported on Thursday. CNN reported that Xi and the Republican held a phone conversation, citing people who were not named.
China and the United States should "find a way to get along properly in the new era, which will benefit both countries and the world," Xi said. The Chinese leader sometimes refers to a new era for China, which creates an opportunity for his country to become more influential in the world, while the United States is in decline, the newspaper notes.
Beijing, according to the newspaper, usually congratulates the winner of the US presidential election immediately, except in the case of President Joe Biden in 2020. China was one of the few countries that refrained from commenting for several days while Trump contested the results.
Beijing's early, rather warm comments contrast with Trump's tense relations with China during his first term, the newspaper writes. In 2018, a trade war erupted, and Trump threatened to hit Chinese supplies with a 60 percent tariff as soon as he returned to office, which would hurt trade between the world's two largest economies.
Trump also angered China with what is said to be "racist rhetoric" during the pandemic, although he later said he would stop using the term "Chinese virus," the newspaper writes.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also praised Trump's victory over Kamala Harris. "We respect the choice of the American people and congratulate Mr. Trump on his election as president of the United States," a spokesperson said in a statement late Wednesday night.