Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures, next to former US First Lady Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump during an election night event at the West Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, early on November 6, 2024. Agence France-Presse
BEIJING — China said Wednesday it hoped for “peaceful coexistence” with the United States as Donald Trump neared a decisive victory over Kamala Harris in the country’s presidential election.
“We will continue to approach and handle China-US relations based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.
“Our policy toward the United States has been consistent,” she added.
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Mao did not comment directly on the possibility of Trump’s re-election, but said “the United States presidential election is an internal affair of the United States”.
“We respect the choice of the American people,” she said.
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US election
“After the US election results are released and officially announced, we will handle related matters in accordance with usual practice,” she added when asked if Chinese President Xi Jinping would call Trump to congratulate him.
The US election was closely watched in China.
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As of 4:00 pm local time on Wednesday, topics related to Trump’s election were among the top trending topics on the X-like Weibo platform.
Both candidates in this week’s race had pledged to get tougher on Beijing, with Trump promising tariffs of 60 percent on all Chinese goods coming into the country.
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Trump victory
Analysts expect a major stimulus package — set to be unveiled at a meeting of top lawmakers ongoing in Beijing this week — to be larger in the event of a Trump victory.
Beijing as a matter of principle does not comment on other countries’ elections, though it said it opposes China being used as an issue on the campaign trail.
During his time as president, Trump launched a gruelling trade war with China, imposing swingeing tariffs on Chinese goods for what he said were unfair practices by Beijing such as theft of US technology and currency manipulation.
Tensions hadn’t abated under his Democratic successor, Joe Biden, with relations at their lowest levels in decades and Washington putting sharp new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, EV batteries and solar cells.