Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday congratulated US president-elect Barack Obama and promised to expand dialogue and cooperation with his incoming administration.

"The Chinese government and myself consistently attach great importance to China-US relations," the Foreign Ministry quoted Hu as saying in a telegram to Senator Obama.

"In this new historical period, I expect to work together with you to strengthen dialogue and exchanges between our two nations to enhance mutual trust and cooperation and to bring the China-US constructive cooperative relationship to a new level ... so as to bring more benefit to the people of the two nations and the whole world," Hu said.

"China and the US have comprehensive common interests on a series of major issues related to the interests of humanity, and they shoulder important common responsibility," he was quoted as saying.

Hu said "long-term, stable and healthy China-US relations" were in the two nations' interests and important for promoting "peace, stability and development."

A leading Chinese scholar said earlier Wednesday that China expects continuity but fears trade protectionism once Obama takes office.

"If the financial crisis is revived, or if the US is not satisfied with what China can do in financial cooperation, I think trade disputes between China and the US will develop more than ever," Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at People's University in Beijing, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur