Chinese President Xi Jinping today congratulated Donald Trump on becoming president-elect of the US, calling for cooperation between the top two economies of the world to maintain global peace and stability as well as improving bilateral ties while shunning confrontation.
In his message to Trump, Xi hoped they could work together to boost China-US relations so as to better benefit peoples around the world.
Normally Chinese leaders wait for entire official process of elections to be over to greet world leaders. Xi's greetings came hours after Trump victory over Hillary Clinton.
In his congratulatory message, Xi said that while China is the world's largest developing country and the US the largest developed power, both, as the world's top economies, bear the special responsibility of maintaining world peace and stability and boosting global development and prosperity, and share extensive interests.
To develop a long-term, healthy and stable China-US relationship is in line with the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries as well as the general expectations of the global community, Xi said.
"I highly value the relations between China and the United States, and I am looking forward to working together with you to expand China-US cooperation in every field, at the bilateral, regional and global levels, on the basis of the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, with differences controlled in a constructive manner, so as to push China-US relations further forward from a new starting point, better benefiting the peoples of the two countries and other countries," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying. China watched the run-up to the election between Trump and Hillary Clinton with a sense of unease as both promised to pursue strong policies against China.
Generally the Chinese official commentaries reflecting public opinion favoured Trump as Clinton was widely regarded as someone who pursued tough line against China with Asia Pivot strategy under which 60 percent of American military assets would be deployed in the region to contain China.
Strategically, Trump's vision of reorienting ties with allies like China's arch rival Japan and South Korea as well as his pledge to scrap Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) which excluded Beijing suited China.
At the same time Beijing is also apprehensive about how Trump's promise of US-centric global development and military development would pan out fuelling the confrontation between the two countries.
Equally there are apprehensions about Trump who branded China a currency manipulator and promised tough measures against cheap Chinese goods into US.
The countries have over USD 600 billion annual trade with balance of trade heavily tilting towards China. Successive US leaders also criticised China for keeping its currency too low against dollar to reap maximum benefit out of the trade.
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Vice President Li Yuanchao also congratulated Mike Pence on his becoming US vice president-elect.
Earlier Chinese foreign ministry reacted guardedly to the election of Trump saying that it will work with the new US government to ensure steady development of bilateral ties to benefit people of both the countries.
A commentary in Xinhua on China-US relations said Trump should work to maintain the eight year momentum for improving bilateral relations so that the world's most important bilateral relationship continues to advance.
"China-US ties have witnessed remarkable progress since the ice-breaking visit to China in 1972 by then US President Richard Nixon to establish a relationship that in the decades to come would have global consequences. That is why Beijing and Washington have also demonstrated an unmistakable desire in recent years to improve communication and better cooperate with each other," it said.
"Of course, the relationship between the world's top two economies isn't without friction. Washington's rebalance to the Asia-Pacific, under which it plans to relocate a large part of its diplomatic and military resources to the region, is widely interpreted as targeting China," it said.
While Washington has done little to dispel such doubts in Beijing, its warships, not long after the announcement of the pivot, have begun to appear in the South China Sea at an increasingly higher frequency, all under the false pretext of maintaining "freedom of navigation" in the area, it said.
Such actions have emboldened some claimants in the South China Sea, effectively stirring up tensions in the mostly peaceful Asia-Pacific region and dimming the prospect of a peaceful solution to the region's maritime disputes, it said.
China has repeatedly said it welcomes the United States to play a constructive role in the Asia-Pacific, and stressed that the Pacific is vast enough to accommodate both, the Xinhua commentary said adding while the two sides will always have disagreements, they are definitely not stuck in a zero sum game.
It said by properly managing their disputes and working to enhance mutual trust, the incoming US government and Beijing can jointly build a new paradigm of major power relations.
"Meetings between top leaders are often seen as a barometer of bilateral ties. The long walks and conversations conducted in a hearty atmosphere between Xi and US President Barack Obama on several occasions were evident of growing China-US ties," it said.
In the past three years since the Sunnylands summit between Xi and Obama, China and the US have achieved new highs in bilateral trade, two-way investment, and personnel exchanges, it said.
They have also scored progress in establishing a bilateral investment treaty, made headway strengthening mutual trust between the two militaries and achieved some breakthroughs regarding cyber security cooperation.
Working hand in hand, and with other global players, the two countries signed a historic climate deal and jointly brought the Iran nuclear issue to a positive end through diplomacy, the commentary said.
