The Chinese Foreign Ministry refused to congratulate President-elect Donald Trump on his victory on Wednesday, claiming the results had still not been confirmed by asserting the Communist Party would approach the victory of the race with “mutual respect.”
Americans went to the polls on Tuesday to choose a successor to outgoing President Joe Biden. As of Wednesday morning, the Associated Press has declared Trump the winner of the election, besting Vice President Kamala Harris in both the popular vote and surpassing the 270-electoral point threshold to secure the presidency. Some vote tallies remain outstanding at press time.
Multiple world leaders have issued public notices of congratulations to Trump at press time, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and French President Emmanuel Macron. China’s genocidal dictator Xi Jinping has not personally commented on the election at press time, though the Foreign Ministry took questions from the press on Wednesday about the results.
“China’s policy toward the US is consistent, and it will continue to handle China-US relations based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in response to being asked about the results of the American election. Asked if the Chinese government would congratulate President-elect Trump once his victory is confirmed, Mao said only, “we will handle relevant matter following customary practice.”
Mao emphasized that the election was an “internal affair” and Chinese officials “respect the choice of the American people.” She declined to answer questions about President-elect Trump’s position on imposing tariffs on Chinese products, a oft-repeated campaign promise.
China’s state-run Global Times propaganda outlet quoted one of its pro-regime “experts” on Wednesday warning Trump away from the policies of his first term in office, which addressed the reality of China as a rogue state regularly engaging in criminal acts such as intellectual property theft, espionage, and colonialism. Among Trump’s promises for a second term were a 60-percent tariff on all Chinese products.
“First of all, whoever enters the White House in next four years needs to bear in mind that China and the US are the major powers and top two economies in the world, so they have significant roles to play and responsibilities to shoulder,” the Global Times “expert,” Jin Canrong, was quoted as saying.
Jin suggested Trump “learn lessons from his previous term” and adopt a more conciliatory attitude towards communist China “to avoid a zero-sum game.”
The potential for tariffs prompted a dramatic fall in the value of the Chinese yuan on Wednesday as Trump’s victory appeared certain.
“The offshore yuan on Wednesday had at one stage fallen by more than 900 basis points against the US dollar, dropping below the 7.19 mark, before regaining some ground,” the South China Morning Post reported.
Chinese state media coverage of the American election this week was largely focused on disparaging the concept of free and fair elections and depicting America as a violent, chaotic, declining power.
The state Xinhua News Agency, for example, published a bizarre video in which two anchors describe the election as “like a Thanksgiving dinner where no one agrees on the turkey.”
“Both sides saying the same thing: if the other side wins, America is doomed,” the anchors claim, predicting more “division” for the country.
China Daily, another regime outlet, emphasized that American law enforcement officials were taking security measures to protect voters, suggesting that extreme measures were necessary due to the violent nature of the United States.
China is a totalitarian communist dictatorship in which the Communist Party controls all government institutions and micromanages the daily lives of its people. It describes itself as a “consultative democracy,” in which the Communist Party “leads” the country towards democracy by denying the people the right to a say in how they are governed.
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