China congratulates Brazil president-elect Bolsonaro

Beijing on Monday congratulated Jair Bolsonaro -- a former army captain who has accused China of "buying Brazil" -- on winning his country's presidential elections.

Beijing "congratulates" Bolsonaro and will continue to "deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and promote common development of both countries to benefit the two peoples", said foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang at a regular press briefing.

Though Bolsonaro has vowed to implement free-market reforms in Latin America's biggest economy, the president-elect said his privatisation pledge would not extend to the core businesses of oil company Petrobras and electricity group Electrobras, singling out China as a concern.

"China isn't buying in Brazil -- China is buying Brazil," Bolsonaro said earlier this month in an interview with Brazilian media Band TV.

In February, Bolsonaro visited Taiwan, breaking convention with Beijing's One-China policy, which regards the self-governing island as a renegade province.

Despite that, Lu replied that China is "willing to continue to work with Brazil" to boost the two countries' strategic partnership.

China has been Brazil's largest trading partner since 2009. Imports and exports between the two countries reached $74.8 billion last year, according to statistics from Brazil's central bank.