China has finally congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on winning the U.S. presidential election after days of silence to acknowledge the victory.                             

“We have been following the reaction on this U.S. presidential election from both within the United States and from the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a briefing in Beijing on Friday. “We respect the American people’s choice and extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris.                            

“We understand that the result of the U.S. presidential election will be determined following the U.S. laws and procedures,” Wang said.

The acknowledgment came just after Biden defeated Donald Trump in Arizona, one of the battleground states.

China was previously among some major countries including Russia, Brazil, and Mexico that had not congratulated the president-elect as they were waiting for the votes to be confirmed by the US Electoral College next month.

“We believe it’s correct to wait for the official results of the elections to be announced,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump immediately after he was declared the winner based on US media projections in 2016.