WASHINGTON — China has offered its congratulations to United States President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris on their election success, almost a week after they delivered victory addresses.

Speaking at a regular press briefing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China "respected the choice of the American people."

"We congratulate Biden and Harris. At the same time, we understand that the outcome of this US election will be ascertained in accordance with US laws and procedures," he said.

China is one of the last major nations to offer its congratulations to President-elect Biden and his team on their win. A large number of countries have already welcomed the new US leader, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, France and Germany.

In 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping offered his congratulations to then-President-elect Trump just one day after he had been declared the winner.

Chinese state-run media has so far been cautious in its handling of Biden's win in comparison to its increasingly strident tone towards the Trump administration, amid an ongoing deterioration in bilateral relations.

In an editorial on Thursday, the state-run newspaper China Daily said that the "eagerness of foreign leaders" to congratulate Biden showed they wanted to "turn their backs on the current administration and its divisive policies."

"China is always ready to work with the US to manage their differences. Whoever is in the White House should look at the regional situation objectively," the editorial said.

An article in state-run tabloid Global Times described Biden as an "old friend" of China's. An editorial in the paper published Sunday after Biden's win said that while the paper hoped for better relations between Washington and Beijing under Biden, at the end of the day China could only trust itself.

"China must become a country the US cannot suppress or destabilize, and make it that cooperation with China is the best option for the US to realize its national interests. This is the ultimate principle," the editorial said.

Russia is yet to offer well wishes.

Four years ago, the Russian leader Vladimir Putin was among the first to congratulate Donald Trump on his election victory, but there has been no tweet, telegram or phone call to Biden this time.

"We believe the correct thing to do would be to wait for the official election result," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Biden has taken calls from a string of global leaders in recent days. Congratulations began to pour in from Saturday, when US networks projected the result and he declared victory.

Meanwhile, US President Trump has continued to make unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud without providing clear evidence.

On Thursday, a group of federal and state election officials directly rebutted such claims, saying the vote was "the most secure in American history". — Agencies