Only Washington 'Sincerity' Can Fix Dire U.S.-China Relations, Says Beijing

President-elect Joe Biden must show "sincerity" if he is to help U.S.-China ties out of their worst state since diplomatic relations began four decades ago, a Chinese Communist Party news site said on Tuesday.

In a lengthy editorial published by the China Internet Information Center, a government portal run by the party's State Council Information Office, Beijing suggested Biden had yet to show that he was ready for a rapprochement between the world's two largest economies.

The Electoral College formally affirmed Biden as the next American president on Monday, but China's President Xi Jinping had already congratulated him for winning the election more than two weeks earlier.

Jiang Xinyu, author of the article titled "To repair China-U.S. relations, China has the goodwill, but the U.S. must have the sincerity," sought to remind the incoming administration that Beijing had already made the first move in its attempt to mend its dire relationship with Washington.

He also warned that a continuation of Trump-era anti-China sentiment would drag bilateral relations "into the swamp."

In his telegram to the president-elect, Xi had expressed a desire for Beijing and Washington to uphold principles of "no conflict and no conflicting," Jiang wrote. Xi asked for "mutual respect" and a focus on cooperation.

During his election campaign, Biden hinted he would seek to work with China on issues including climate change and nonproliferation, while promising to stand up to Beijing on its human rights violations in Xinjiang, where rights groups say more than a million Uighur Muslims have been systematically interned in "re-education" camps.

The Chinese leadership may find Biden's two-pronged approach hard to stomach, Jiang suggested, predicting that the "new point in history" in U.S-China relations would ultimately come down to a test of strategic wit.

"In the past two weeks, China has made gestures of goodwill toward the United States," the article said. "Whether China's efforts are ultimately effective will depend on the U.S. showing it is sincere in wanting to repair the relationship."

Relations between the two countries are at their lowest point since diplomatic ties were established in 1979, the author continued. Some "extremist forces" are seeking to deny more than 40 years of close history in calling for a "decoupling," he added.

Jiang said Beijing "does not seek to displace the U.S." and has "no desire" to rule the world, but America must respect China's ambition to become a leading power.

Interference in China's "core interests" in Taiwan and Hong Kong would lead to "resolute opposition" from China and "drag China-U.S. relations into the swamp," he added.

China's tightly controlled state media has many times hinted that the Chinese leadership sees President-elect Biden as someone it can work with. News outlets have described the former vice president and his cabinet nominations as "old faces" who are reasonable and predictable.

State-owned publications believe President Donald Trump is trying to dictate the future of American relations with China by implementing tough measures against Beijing, including sanctions, many of which will be difficult for Biden to overturn.

Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he felt the current trend of skepticism about Beijing and the Communist Party was bipartisan and irreversible. Many analysts agree and believe how best to handle China will dominate much of the Biden administration's foreign policy.