On Sunday, world leaders congratulated Joe Biden on his election as US president, welcoming a renewed opportunity to enhance cooperation on climate change, the coronavirus, and other problems after four years of President Donald Trump’s open rejection of international alliances. However, China and Russia remained conspicuously quiet on the development.
This has given a growing indication that China’s unhappy relationship with the Trump administration might continue under the president-elect. Biden has been known to go even further than the outgoing president in attacking China. He has previously described Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “thug” and sworn to gather international allies to “pressure, isolate and punish China.” His campaign has also referred to China’s actions against Muslims in Xinjiang as “genocide”, which is a significantly stronger stance than the positon taken by the current administration, and is perhaps indicative of further reprisal.
When the coronavirus pandemic first began to wreak havoc across the US, Biden said that America must “get tough with China,” pointing to China’s complicity in a disease that originated in Wuhan. That being said, he also sought to distance himself from the harmful rhetoric of the Trump administration by saying that the two countries must cooperate “on issues where our interests converge, such as climate change, non-proliferation and global health security.”
The potential economic damage of a trade war with China is not lost on Biden, who recognizes that even a strained but cooperative relationship can mitigate the impact of a conflict between the two superpowers on the US economy and indeed on global stability. Biden has also previously boasted of having spent “more time in private meetings” with Xi “than any world leader,” amounting to “25 hours of private dinners.” Xi, in turn, lauded Biden as “my old friend” in 2013.
However, in Asia, most countries are looking for a continued tough line on China and also more detail on the balance between cooperation and confrontation with the world’s rising superpower.
With regards to Russia, throughout his term, Trump has been criticised for being overly sympathetic to Putin, who was accused of collusion in Trump’s 2016 electoral victory. He has called Putin “a strong leader”, unlike Biden, who has called Russia the biggest threat to U.S. national security. Biden’s strong stance has drawn the ire of Russia, who said that such rhetoric “encouraged hatred of Russia”.
Brazil is another major nation that has stayed quiet on Biden’s victory. Despite being an ideological ally, Brazil's President, Jair Bolsonaro, who is often referred to as “the Trump of the Tropics,” has not released a statement about Biden's victory. In solidarity was Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said he would refrain from congratulating Biden on his victory until all legal challenges are resolved. He is quoted to have said he would refrain until “all legal issues [related to the election] are resolved. We don’t want to be reckless”.
Among other leaders, even leaders who built strong relationships with Trump, like U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were quick to congratulate Biden. More than 12 hours after Biden was expected to win the US election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Saudi Arabia's ruling family offered congratulations to the president-elect.
China Silent as World Leaders Scramble to Congratulate Biden, Indicating Further Tensions
On Sunday, as many world leaders rushed to send President-elect Joe Biden congratulations on his projected electoral victory over Donald Trump, China was notable in its silence.
November 9, 2020
SOURCE: Nelson Ching