[The early overtures to China's neighbors reflected Biden's campaign promise of staying tough on China but seeking a united front instead of the Trump administration's more unilateral approach. China's government has been cautiously optimistic about calmer relations with Washington under a Biden administration, although officials have no illusions of a major thaw.]
By Eva
Dou
Beijing's
salutations came just over 24 hours after Biden's team said he had held phone calls with Australia,
Japan and South Korea — U.S. allies that have watched with varying degrees of
concern as Beijing has expanded its regional influence. Biden was projected as the winner of the
presidential election on Nov. 7.
The
early overtures to China's neighbors reflected Biden's campaign promise of
staying tough on China but seeking a united front instead of the Trump
administration's more unilateral approach. China's government has been
cautiously optimistic about calmer relations with Washington under a Biden
administration, although officials have no illusions of a major thaw.
“We
respect the American people’s choice,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Wang Wenbin at a regular news conference. “We congratulate Mr. Biden and Ms.
Harris.”
[Biden
vows to defend U.S. allies as China asserts power in Asia]
At
the same time, Wang added, “we understand the U.S. election results will be
confirmed based on U.S. law and procedure.”
China’s
Foreign Ministry previously had held off extending congratulations, saying only
that it “noted” Biden’s claim of victory. Chinese foreign policy analysts
explained the stance as a precautionary one, because President Trump has not conceded.
On
Thursday in the United States, Edison Research projected that Biden would win
Arizona, adding to the size of his projected victory in the electoral college.
Steve
Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said he believed the
delay in China’s response probably reflected the government’s rigid
decision-making process.
“More
likely, no one in the the Chinese government dared to make a call on this until
they have heard from [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping on how Xi would like to play
it,” he said. “Xi took time to think about it and finally decided to reach out
to Biden, after allowing the confusion in Washington to be known to the
Chinese.”
Bill
Bishop, publisher of the Sinocism newsletter, said Beijing had been wary of
congratulating Biden too early to avoid upsetting U.S.-China relations at a
volatile moment before Trump conceded.
“Perhaps
they have decided waiting much longer will antagonize Biden, so they have to
get off the fence,” Bishop said. “And they want to start engaging with Team
Biden.”
Beijing’s
change of tack followed Biden’s pledges of support for U.S. allies in the
Asia-Pacific region — a step that would have raised the urgency for China to
open its lines of communications with the president-elect.
In
particular, Biden’s discussion with Japan about territory claimed by China
would have irked Beijing.
On
Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Biden gave a “commitment” in their phone call that U.S.
pledges to defend Japan would include the Senkaku Islands, disputed rocky
outcrops that are administered by Japan. China also claims the archipelago,
which it calls the Diaoyu Islands.
[A
U.S.-China detente under Biden? Beijing isn’t betting on it.]
With
its centrally controlled bureaucracy, Beijing is generally conservative in its
public remarks, and it is not unusual for it to issue statements days late in
an uncertain situation. Trump’s refusal to concede despite Biden’s projected
large margin of victory put China and other countries in uncharted territory.
In
2016, Xi congratulated Trump on Nov. 9, after Democrat Hillary Clinton conceded
the election that day.
U.S.-China
relations have continued to be tense this week. The White House on Thursday issued an executive order banning U.S.
investments in a few dozen Chinese companies it says have links to China’s
military.
Beijing
also seized on the global distraction this week to gut Hong Kong’s legislature by ordering
the disqualification of lawmakers deemed “unpatriotic.” The move was met with
outrage from Western officials.
British
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called it “a clear breach of the legally binding
Sino-British Joint Declaration,” a treaty signed in 1984 before the British
handover of Hong Kong to China.
Lyric
Li in Beijing and Gerry Shih in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
Read
more
A
U.S.-China detente under Biden? Beijing isn’t betting on it.
Biden
vows to defend U.S. allies as China asserts power in Asia
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forces ouster of Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers, quashing opposition
