You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query-continue>
    <alllinks galcontinue="Benefactive_SVCs_in_Mandarin_Chinese|2300" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <pages>
      <page pageid="1622" ns="0" title="Beneficial" />
      <page pageid="2184" ns="1" title="Talk:Bangla constructions log" />
      <page pageid="405" ns="0" title="Bangla constructions log" />
      <page pageid="1003" ns="0" title="Norwegian" />
      <page pageid="2621" ns="0" title="Bangla constructions log page" />
      <page pageid="675" ns="10" title="Template:Infobox language" />
      <page pageid="1262" ns="0" title="Mandarin Chinese" />
      <page pageid="43" ns="0" title="Annotating Tumbuka" />
      <page pageid="380" ns="0" title="Bengali Constructions" />
      <page pageid="271" ns="0" title="Annotating Runyankore-Rukiga" />
    </pages>
  </query>
</api>