China is "watching US closely" following the election of Trump, President Xi Jinping says

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (L) meets China's President Xi Jinping (R) at the Great Halll of the People in Beijing on December 2, 2016. PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping told former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger on Friday that China was watching U.S. politics "very closely" following the presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump.

Trump lambasted China throughout the U.S. election campaign, drumming up headlines with his pledges to slap 45 percent tariffs on imported Chinese goods and to label the country a currency manipulator.