China’s Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said Thursday he hopes the next U.S. administration will take steps to work with the Asian country, CNBC reported.
As the world waits for news on who will become the next U.S. president, Le said he hoped the election would proceed stably and smoothly. That’s according to a CNBC translation of a Chinese state media report about Le’s remarks Thursday at a press conference about an unrelated upcoming summit.
“The Chinese attitude on China-U.S. relations is clear and consistent,” the report said, citing Le. “Although there are disagreements between China and the U.S., there is vast room for mutual benefit and cooperation. (I) hope the new U.S. administration will meet China halfway.”
That approach would include “upholding a principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation,” Le said, according to the report.
The world’s two largest economies have been locked in escalating tensions over the last two years, beginning with trade and spilling over into technology and geopolitics.
Analysts expect U.S. policy on China will stick to a more stringent tone, regardless of which candidate wins.
“The truth of the matter is that being tough on China is what unifies us in a polarized nation right now,” former top White House trade negotiator Clete Willems told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday. “We’re polarized in our politics but we are not polarized on China.”
While U.S. presidential election polls have already closed, vote counting is expected to continue over the coming days. As of Thursday afternoon, it was still not clear whether U.S. President Donald Trump would win reelection, or whether Democratic nominee Joe Biden would become the next president.
Analysts have pointed out that a Biden administration would likely draw American allies together to form a more unified strategy against Beijing than the Trump administration has.
On Wednesday evening, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a key speech that his country would speed up trade talks with the EU, Japan and South Korea, without mentioning the U.S.
“China is keen to secure additional (free-trade agreements) as part of its broader goal to diversify its sources of imports, especially for strategically important goods like core technologies, energy and food,” Imogen Page-Jarrett, research analyst for China at The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU), said in a statement.
“Rising geopolitical friction with the US (and other western countries) could mean that that country cuts off China’s access to certain goods in the future,” Page-Jarrett said.
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