Xi declines to accept Biden’s win, Putin awaits official confirmation
BEIJING/MOSCOW: China declined on Monday to congratulate Joe Biden as the winner of the US presidential election, saying the outcome of the vote was still to be determined.
While incumbent Donald Trump has yet to concede and has launched several legal challenges, many world leaders congratulated Biden and running mate Kamala Harris after the Democrats were declared winners at the weekend and spontaneous celebrations erupted across American cities.
Trump’s four years in the White House have been marked by a costly trade war and increasingly icy relations with China, with the two powers sparring over areas from blame for the COVID-19 pandemic to Beijing’s human rights record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
China — among a handful of major countries including Russia and Mexico that has not congratulated the President-Elect — said Monday it had “noticed that Mr Biden declared he is the winner of the election.” “Our understanding is that the outcome of the election will be determined in accordance with US laws and procedures,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told press at a regular briefing.
After declining to acknowledge
Biden’s victory despite repeated questions from reporters, Wang said: “We hope the new US government can meet China halfway.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is waiting for official results from the US presidential election before congratulating a winner, the Kremlin said on Monday.
“We consider it correct to wait for the official results to be finalised. I want to remind you that President Putin repeatedly said he will respect the choice of the American people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
When Trump won the 2016 presidential election over Hillary Clinton, Putin congratulated him within roughly an hour.
Peskov said that this election was different because of the legal challenges that Trump, who has refused to concede defeat, is planning to mount over the vote.
“The difference is quite obvious... then there were no announcements of legal challenges,” Peskov said. He added that Moscow was ready to work with whoever is declared the winner of the US vote.
“We hope that with the next president of the US it will be possible to re-establish a dialogue and together agree on ways to normalise our bilateral relations,” he said.