Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulates Trump on election win, urges cooperation

Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory and lobbied the incoming U.S. leader to embrace “win-win cooperation,” Beijing officials said Thursday.

Mr. Xi, in a congratulatory message, “pointed out that history tells us that both China and the U.S. stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

“A China-U.S. relationship with stable, healthy and sustainable development serves the common interests of the two countries and meets the expectations of the international community,” she said.

Mr. Trump has emphasized his relationship with Mr. Xi while espousing a hard line on trade with China.

The superpowers struck a major trade deal at the start of 2020, but tensions over the coronavirus and its origins caused a rift between Mr. Trump and China and upended aspects of the pact.

Mr. Trump has threatened to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese imports, saying it will force companies to rely on American manufacturing instead of undercutting U.S. workers with cheap goods. Yet he’s raising fears of a trade war that could ripple through the economy.

“Broadly speaking, let me reiterate that there is no winner in a trade war, nor will the world benefit from it,” Ms. Mao said.

Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to end global conflicts, yet China is raising fears it will invade Taiwan, a democratic island that Beijing considers to be a breakaway province.

Ms. Mao said the incoming administration should stay out of the situation.

“China firmly opposes official interactions of any form between the U.S. and Taiwan,” Ms. Mao said. “This position is consistent and clear.”

She said the U.S. needs to “earnestly abide by the one-China principle.”

Under the one-China policy, the U.S. government acknowledges Beijing’s belief in a single Chinese government while allowing for informal relations with Taiwan.