Taisuke Abiru, Senior Research Fellow at Japan’s Sasakawa Peace Foundation, expects Mr Biden to take note of the aggressive tone towards China by the Trump administration and continue Washington’s “strategic rivalry” with Beijing. Mr Abiru insists the hostile approach from the US towards the fellow global superpower will push China closer towards Russia.He said: “The Donald Trump administration labels China as a US strategic rival.
“Washington has been consistently carrying out a tough policy on China. This line is unlikely to change under Biden.
“In the coming years we will see continued strategic rivalry between the US and China.”
Under the leadership of Mr Trump, the US has gone head-to-head with China over economic policy, slapping hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs on Chinese goods entering the US market.
Mr Trump has also placed unilateral curbs on a host of Chinese firms, including tech giant Huawei and Bytedance, which owns popular social media app TikTok.
Diplomatic relations have also soured in the disputed South China Sea, while ties between the US and Taiwan – a nation regarded as a wayward province by Beijing – have strengthened.
A blanket ban on international arrivals from China into the US was also enforced amid the outbreak of COVID-19 – a disease dubbed the “China virus” by Mr Trump.
While, Mr Biden is widely regarded as an internationalist by many, Mr Abiru expects the fractious relationship between the two nations to continue when he comes Commander-in-Chief in January.
Mr Abiru said: “In other words, China will still face a tough situation in its relations with the US, what will push it closer to Russia.
“The relations with Russia will be more important for Beijing as well as the relations with China for Russia, which will remain under US sanctions.
“This trend is likely to continue under Biden.”
China and Russia share a land border and have already strengthened trade ties in recent years.
In December 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping oversaw the launch of a landmark pipeline which will transport natural gas from Siberia to northeast China.
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China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: “We noticed that Mr Biden has declared election victory.
“We understand that the US presidential election result will be determined following US law and procedures.”
President Vladimir Putin has remained silent since Biden’s victory.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We think it appropriate to wait for the official vote count.”