China said Wednesday it hoped for "peaceful coexistence" with the United States as Donald Trump neared a decisive victory over Kamala Harris in the country's presidential election.
"We will continue to approach and handle China-US relations based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told Global Times, Chinese state tabloid.
"Our policy toward the United States has been consistent," she told the tabloid, which is owned by the ruling Communist party's flagship newspaper the People's Daily.
Donald Trump claimed a "magnificent" victory over Kamala Harris in the fight for the presidency on Wednesday as results put him on the verge of one of the most stunning comebacks in US political history.
"This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again," the 78-year-old told cheering supporters at his campaign headquarters in Florida.
Beijing as a matter of principle does not comment on other countries' elections, though it said it opposes China being used as an issue on the campaign trail.
In response to another question related to the election result and potential additional US tariffs on Chinese goods, Mao said the US presidential election is an internal affair of the US. "We respect the choice of the American people. As for the tariffs, we do not answer hypothetical question," she said.
During his time as president, Trump launched a gruelling trade war with China, imposing swingeing tariffs on Chinese goods for what he said were unfair practices by Beijing, such as theft of US technology and currency manipulation.
Tensions did not abate under his Democratic successor, Joe Biden, with relations at their lowest levels in decades and Washington introducing sharp tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, EV batteries and solar cells.
World leaders rushed to congratulate Trump before the final results were in, with Ukraine's president in particular urging Trump to help achieve a "just peace" against Russia.
US networks called the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina for Trump, and he led the Democratic vice president Kamala Harris in the others although they have not been called yet.
Gloom swiftly descended on Harris's camp as she canceled a watch party for supporters who dreamed of seeing her elected as America's first woman president.
In a further blow to Democrats, Trump's Republican Party also seized control of the Senate, flipping two seats to overturn a narrow Democratic majority.
Trump even appeared to be nearing victory in the popular vote -- something he never achieved in his 2016 victory or in 2020.
For the Democrats, the soul-searching will begin.
Trump's promises of economic bounty and his dark rhetoric on migrants also appear to have resonated with voters who were tired of Biden and Harris's administration.
