In China, Harris is mostly seen as preferred to volatile Trump

She is seen as offering continuity of bilateral ties, which have stabilised over the past year

BEIJING - While China is not enamoured with either US presidential candidate, conversations in Beijing indicate a clear preference for the continuity of Democrat Kamala Harris over the unpredictability of Republican Donald Trump.

US-China ties have stabilised over the past year, even as major divisions persist over issues including Taiwan, the South China Sea and US President Joe Biden's export controls on advanced chips and other technology. A big part of that has been regular, low-profile talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Beijing sees the relationship with Washington as not great, but also better than a few years ago when all communication was cut after then US Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan and the Biden administration shot down an alleged spy balloon flying over the US.

The discussions with Mr Sullivan, in places ranging from Vienna to Bangkok, have helped manage conflict between the US and China.

For China, a Harris presidency would allow President Xi Jinping's government to build on that foundation and provide a somewhat stable external environment, as officials focus on reviving an economy beset by deflationary pressures stemming from efforts to cool an overheated property market.

One major risk to that strategy is Trump, who has threatened to impose tariffs of as high as 60 per cent on China - a level that would decimate trade between the world's biggest economies.

"It's a common view among Chinese experts that Harris means more continuity, at least in the first one or two years of her presidency," said Ms Zhu Junwei, a former researcher in the People's Liberation Army who is now director of American research at Grandview Institution in Beijing.

"Meanwhile, Trump means a wider scope of possibilities, better or worse, with lots of surprises and potentially more trouble for China, the US itself and its allies, and even the whole world."