Former U.S. vice president Joe Biden has been newly elected as the country's next president.

Potential for breakthroughs under Biden?

While a number of world leaders have offered their congratulations to the President-elect and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the leaders of some countries, such as China, Russia, Brazil and Turkey have yet to do so.

China, the target of growing hostilities from the U.S., however, has struck a conciliatory tone.

Shortly after Biden was projected to be winner of the election, nationalistic Chinese state-controlled media Global Times said the outcome could usher in "a buffering period for already-tense China-U.S. relations".

The U.S. under Biden could offer "an opportunity for breakthroughs in resuming high-level communication and rebuilding mutual strategic trust" between both countries, it added.

Global Times also cited an associate dean at Renmin University, who said Biden will be "more moderate and mature on handling foreign affairs".

U.S.-China relations are no longer the same

But it also cautioned that Biden's China policy would not simply return to the one during Obama's presidency as relations between both countries and the global landscape have changed "significantly" in the past four years.

It cited another Chinese expert, who mentioned the bipartisan consensus in the U.S. is that its policy of engagement with China needs "an overhaul", which means Biden's China policy would not differ much from Trump's.

China laughing at the U.S.

China has not bothered to hide its dislike of Trump.

The Chinese Communist Party's official media outlet People's Daily had earlier mocked Trump's tweet that said he won the election "by a lot", retweeting the tweet with "Haha" as its response.

The country has also not bothered to censor coverage of the U.S. election on its popular social media platform Weibo, which was rife with comments that mocked Trump when he claimed that the electoral process was rigged.

"Yes yes yes, just like this. (Smirks emoji) I support them stopping the vote counting process."

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"This guy's good. He shouted "hu" (a word you say when you complete a winning hand at the game) and flipped the mahjong table."

Many commenters also exhibited schadenfreude and appeared gleeful at the post-election chaos, mocking the state of democracy in the U.S.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

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"(Referring to Trump and Biden) These two should go to Deyun She (a Beijing-based comedic performing arts group)."

A columnist at China's official state-run media Xinhua News Agency also wrote an op-ed titled "A Hopeless America", while Global Times said the U.S. is like "a bit like a developing country" while entertaining the possibility of post-election violence in the heavily divided nation.

Hong Kong-based, Chinese-owned media Ta Kung Pao, ran a headline that said, "From an election to a chaotic battle, American-style democracy has descended into a joke".

https://twitter.com/austinramzy/status/1324213965056925697

Alluding to the deep partisan divisions in the country, some commenters on Weibo also said sarcastically that the U.S. should adopt the "one country, two systems" framework for governing Hong Kong.

"America is so big, there should be two presidents. I'm just waiting to watch the drama unfold."

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"What's there to fight if there are two presidents in a country."

Does China prefer Biden or Trump?

Some analysts and pundits have posited that the Chinese government would like Trump to be reelected as a Trump presidency, with its tendency to shun multilateralism, would allow China to fulfil its global aspirations and take up a more prominent leadership position.

A number of ordinary Chinese nationals have also expressed their wish to see Trump get reelected as it might mean more of their own talent coming home to China due to visa difficulties, and a possible boost to China's image with the U.S.'s image taking a hit, Nikkei Asia reported.

Trump was even given a nickname on Chinese social media -- "Jianguo Chuan", which means "Build the State Trump" -- a reference to the belief that Trump is aiding China's rise by destroying America from the inside and causing it to deteriorate.

But some others have argued that China prefers to deal with Biden as he is expected to bring in greater stability in bilateral ties as compared to his predecessor.

Still, there has been no evidence that indicates Biden is willing to let up on China either.

While Biden has said previously that both countries can cooperate on issues where their interests converge, such as climate change, the U.S. needs to "get tough with China".

The "most effective way to meet that challenge is to build a united front of U.S. allies and partners to confront China's abusive behaviours and human rights violations," he said.

Should Biden pursue such a strategy and mend frayed relations with U.S.'s allies to counter China, the U.S. might present a greater challenge to Chinese global ambitions in the long run.

But regardless of which leader China prefers, China is said to be prepared for tensions to continue with the U.S. in the long haul.

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Top image via LINTAO ZHANG/GETTY IMAGES