China’s Foreign Ministry said during a regular press conference that Beijing “had observed that Mr Biden has declared his victory in the election, and understands that the process will be concluded according to US laws and procedures”.
The hard-line Global Times noted that “a few US states have not completed their vote counts,” and that “several world leaders” had already congratulated Biden in the wake of his “victory speech".
#opinion: Judging from narratives of Biden's potential advisors, the goal of a Biden administration's China policy is almost identical to that of Trump administration. However, Biden will differ from Trump on dealing with the China challenge. https://t.co/MxWgwXlyQu
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) November 9, 2020
The English-language China Daily listed all leaders that had so far congratulated the in-coming American president – a list that did not include China’s Xi Jinping.
An editorial in the same newspaper said that the “pandemic must be the top priority for whoever is in the White House,” expressing hope that “the tussle between who is going to have the White House keys does not drag on”. The website of China’s Foreign Ministry did not mention the elections at all.
A contrarian in the Kremlin?
Meanwhile in Russia, the official website of the Kremlin did not mention the US elections either, instead opening with news of a tele-conference between Russian President Vladimir Putin an Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
The last mention of Joe Biden on the website of Russia’s foreign ministry concerns Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sending his condolences to then vice-President Biden over the Orlando shooting on15 June 2016.
Meanwhile, Russia Today, a state-controlled media, has extensive US election coverage, but noted that during his campaign, Biden had referred to Russia as “the main enemy”.
Another pro-Putin publication, Sputnik, places the expression president-elect between parentheses when talking about Biden, indicating that they, too, refuse to regard Biden’s victory as a done deal.
US #election live updates: Trump's push for vote #recount continues despite calls for power transfer @realDonaldTrumphttps://t.co/HSRCLAhNoE
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) November 9, 2020
Officially, Biden can only call himself president after governors of all 50 states have signed their state’s Certificate of Ascertainment.
On 14 December, the state electors will then vote for the president and the vice-president. Only on 6 January 2021, will Congress meet in a joint session to count the electoral votes, thus making the new presidency official.
