World leaders congratulate President-elect Joe Biden | ABC News

There have been sighs of relief in Europe, cautious optimism in parts of Asia, conspicuous silence from Russia, while China is playing it cool. Most world leaders have rushed to congratulate Joe Biden on his election victory despite Donald Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud.

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Democrat Joe Biden is set to become the 46th president of the United States, with networks projecting he will defeat Donald Trump after a long and tight election race.

As a true global superpower, the US has allies in many parts of the world and global leaders watching its every move.

Under President Trump, US relations have been strengthened in some countries and significantly weakened in others.

With all eyes now on how Biden's America will operate, here's how international leaders from across the world reacted to the news of his victory.

Warmth from Asia and the pacific
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape welcomed the new leadership, congratulating Mr Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris, who will be the first woman and Black and Asian-American person to serve as vice-president.

In a statement, he thanked Mr Trump for his support and acknowledgement of Papua New Guinea during his term, especially sending Vice-President Mike Pence to APEC 2018 in Port Moresby and signing a billion-dollar deal with Australia, New Zealand and Japan to improve access to electricity and the internet in PNG.

"I look forward to PNG strengthening relations with the USA under president-elect Biden and vice-president-elect Harris," Mr Marape said.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Mr Biden on Twitter, as did Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

"Warm congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. I look forward to working with you to further strengthen the Japan-US Alliance and ensure peace, freedom and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond," Mr Suga wrote.

China has still not officially made a statement, but Chinese state media has reported that Mr Biden is projected to be the winner.

However, on Chinese social media platform Weibo there have been over 11 billion views under the trending hashtag "US election" and over 1.8 million comments.

Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama got in a little early, congratulating Mr Biden on Twitter a day before the official call was made by US news agencies.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his congratulations with a special shout-out to Ms Harris, drawing attention to her Indian heritage.

"Congratulations @JoeBiden on your spectacular victory! As the VP, your contribution to strengthening Indo-US relations was critical and invaluable. I look forward to working closely together once again to take India-US relations to greater heights," Mr Modi said.

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