China’s Xi Congratulates Trump, Calls for ‘New Era’ of US Ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping called President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on his win in Tuesday’s election.
Messages from foreign leaders began pouring in after the former president’s landslide victory over Vice President Kamala Harris became apparent early on Wednesday.
“President Xi pointed out that China and the U.S. gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to Washington, said in a post on X.
China’s foreign ministry on Thursday cited Xi as saying he hopes both sides will “uphold the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation”— three elements the country frequently underscores in discussions about its relations with other states.
Xi stressed he hopes the two countries will strengthen communication, “properly manage differences” and “find a correct way for China and the United States to get along in the new era, so as to benefit both countries and the world,” the statement said.
Separately, a foreign ministry spokesperson had congratulated Trump late on Wednesday local time, saying: “We respect the choice of the American people.”
Trump’s first term in office marked the beginning of the sharp downturn that now characterizes relations between the world’s two largest economies.
His administration launched a trade war by imposing tariffs on Chinese goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars, citing unfair trade practices. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden upheld the duties on $300 billion of Chinese imports and raised them on some $15 billion worth of products.
The real estate mogul’s first term also saw the countries clash over espionage, the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China’s far west Xinjiang region, the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong and China’s military threats toward neighboring Taiwan.
The U.S.-China relationship has been fraught under the Biden administration, with China cutting military ties at the leadership level following former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in 2022. These were restored in the months following Biden’s talks with Xi on the sidelines of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco late last year.
Trump recently told The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board that he as commander-in-chief would not need to use military force to break a hypothetical Chinese blockade of the island democracy because Xi “respects” him and knows he’s “crazy.”
However, the praise Trump has frequently heaped on autocrats including Xi, whom he has lauded for being “smart” and for having “ruled with an iron fist,” has drawn criticism from political opponents.
Harris suggested earlier this year that dictators were rooting for Trump because “they know he is easy to manipulate.”
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, also congratulated Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, according to a statement from Presidential Office Spokesperson Karen Kuo.
Lai expressed gratitude to Biden and Harris for their “staunch support for Taiwan” over the past four years.
Trump’s win makes him only the second politician after Grover Cleveland to secure two non-consecutive presidential terms.
At the time of writing, Trump’s electoral vote count stood at 295 compared to Harris’ 226. Just 270 electoral votes are needed to secure the presidency.
Unlike during his 2016 race against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump also won the popular vote in Tuesday’s election. At the time of writing, he had garnered 72.6 million (50.9 percent) votes, nearly 5 million more than Harris.
Update on 11/07/24 at 5:55 a.m. ET: This breaking news story was updated with additional information.