China’s Xi at G20 says world economy at risk, warns against protectionism

A joint “fact sheet”, issued a day after US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held talks, also said the two countries had committed “not to unnecessarily limit or prevent commercial sales opportunities for foreign suppliers of ICT (information and communications technology) products or services”. All the leaders are in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou for the G20 summit.

Mr. Obama arrived to no red-carpeted stairs for Air Force One and open quarreling on the tarmac between Chinese and us officials over press access.

In a scene at the airport that was captured on video, a White House press aide told a Chinese official who wanted the media to leave that USA journalists would stay on the tarmac to see the US president – and that they were standing under the wing of a US plane.

Also, a Chinese official tried to keep Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, away from her boss.

President Xi said: “Against risks and challenges facing the world economy, the worldwide community has high expectations of the G20 in the Hangzhou summit”.

The dispute concluded in a nationalistic eruption from one official, who shouted “This is our country!”

“We don’t leave our values and our ideals behind when we take these trips”, Obama said.

The papers certified the U.S. and China have taken the necessary steps to join the Paris accord that set nation-by-nation targets for cutting carbon emissions.

“This is the way I operate”, May earlier told reporters en route to the summit, which will include a one-to-one with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In recent days, the State Department has said it only wants a nationwide ceasefire between Assad’s military and the rebels, and not another “cessation of hostilities” that is time-limited and only stops fighting in some cities and regions. “The seams are showing a little more than usual”, Obama said, while suggesting that the flare-up was not a big deal.

“China provides a rolling staircase for every arriving state leader, but the US side complained that the driver doesn’t speak English and can’t understand security instructions from the United States”, the South China Post reported, citing a Chinese Foreign Ministry official. “If you are a host country, sometimes it may feel a little bit much”, Obama added. “We’ve got a lot of planes, a lot of helicopters, a lot of cars, a lot of guys”.

“This is our arrangement”, a Chinese official said to one of the Americans.

He told Obama that China will stick to the direction of opening up and reform, and further facilitate foreign investment access. An Associated Press reporter was denied entry to a climate change ceremony because a credential list used a common nickname, though he was eventually allowed in after the US Embassy intervened.

“They did things that weren’t anticipated”, she said. “And so I wouldn’t over-crank the significance of it”.

The White House said in a statement that Mr Obama “reaffirmed that the U.S. will work with all countries in the region to uphold the principles of worldwide law, unimpeded lawful commerce, and freedom of navigation and overflight”.

“These are hard negotiations”, Obama said. G20 leaders confront a sluggish global economy and the winds of populism as they open annual talks, but the long war in Syria and the South China Sea territorial dispute hang over the summit.