China has refrained from commenting on the U.S. election, insisting it is its internal affair, and called on Wednesday for respect and cooperation but its state-controlled media has reflected concerns and hopes, with one newspaper calling for the new president, whoever it may be, to stop a deterioration in ties.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing, as reports indicated that former president Donald Trump was heading for victory, that China’s policy towards the United States was consistent.

“We will continue to view and handle Sino-U.S. relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation,” Mao said.

But the China Daily, in a commentary titled “Onus on new US president to improve ties,” expressed frustration with “U.S. hawks” for the deterioration in Sino-US relations.

“No matter who wins the election, the result will have a far-reaching impact on the world, not least because the winner will decide the U.S.’s China policy,” Chinese academics Fu Suixin and Ni Feng wrote in the commentary.

Both of the U.S. presidential candidates had played the “China card” to win votes, the academics said.

While U.S. voters “generally do not understand or care about foreign policy, the country’s elites have always formulated the foreign policy and shaped public opinion,” they said.

“Both Democrats and Republicans make China a scapegoat for the U.S. domestic mess,” they wrote. “The voters have to pay the cost of the deteriorating China-U.S. relations.”

“The new U.S. administration, therefore, should give up the illusion of having a consensual China policy, and reflect on the costs of undermining Sino-U.S. relations over the past eight years — and honestly tell the American people the truth about China,” they said.

The China Daily published an opinion piece on China-U.S. relations on Tuesday written by the former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, Djoomart Otorbaev, titled “Rebuilding Sino-US trust crucial for world.”

Otorbaev said in recent years hostility between the U.S. and China “has escalated to the point where the possibility of not just a cold war but even a hot war is becoming threateningly real.”

“Beijing and Washington are competing with each other in nearly all economic fields,” Otorbaev wrote, adding that their growing rivalry prevents the world’s two largest economies from working together.

While not directly referring to the U.S. presidential election, Otorbaev called on the U.S. and China to “agree to coexist peacefully and engage in fair competition,” as well as manage friction and confrontations calmly and avoid conflict.

“The primary issue between Beijing and Washington is mutual distrust, making short-term cooperation unlikely. Nevertheless, both sides should prioritize discussions and swiftly implement effective confidence-building measures and start doing it as soon as possible,” Otorbaev wrote.

The Global Times, the sister publication of the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily, warned of fears of violence and unrest, and the impact of that on global financial markets.

RELATED STORIES

At media summit, China blasts Western coverage of Uyghurs

US urges China to use influence amid ‘destabilizing’ action by North Korea, Russia

EXPLAINED: What is China’s United Front and how does it operate?

Edited by Mike Firn

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.