China urges Japan to be ‘constructive’ at G20 summit

Eight years after the global financial crisis, the recovery remains slow and fragile.

Meanwhile, the United Nations chief said the summit represented a great opportunity for G20 leaders and others to show leadership in accelerating the ratification process of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The attending leaders are expected to discuss a host of global and regional issues affecting the organization.

Acknowledging this, Dekeyser said the agenda and four priorities raised by China during its presidency of G20 were very timely. China’s pursuit of win-win cooperation and common development is evident in its many cooperative projects. We will see whether the outcomes are comparable with our expectations.

Developing nations such as Thailand, chair of the G77, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Laos will also be represented.

“That clearly would be something we would like to see, as it is a prerequisite for securing a stable global environment”, he said.

China is expected to play a bigger role in that process, given its growing weight in the global economy and its close connections with both developed and emerging economies.

“China is a country that highly values stability and can pragmatically unite many different perspectives”.

However, noting that actions and goals agreed among the G20 leaders were non-binding, Dekeyser warned that domestic and worldwide political uncertainties facing the G20 countries may add to lingering doubts over its effectiveness.

A senior Western official while describing conversations with Chinese officials ahead of G20 said the South China Sea row and an advanced USA anti-missile system to be deployed in South Korea will also come up during the gathering.

To make the upcoming G20 summit successful, Hangzhou has spared no efforts in security and environmental protection, said a senior official of the host city. Hangzhou, described as “the most splendid city in the world” by Marco Polo in the 13th century, is now known as a center for innovation in China, and is home to some of China’s most robust enterprises, including Alibaba.

The summit’s agenda also includes discussions of issues contributing to long-term economic development, such as dealing with climate change and anti-corruption cooperation. New institutions, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), established under Chinese leadership, can provide a useful supplement to the existing global financial system.

“The AIIB was a tremendous success, many European countries joined the AIIB directly, and European diplomats are enthusiastic about it”, according to the EIAS expert, “this Chinese narrative is grabbing the momentum”.

In its latest forecast, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its forecast for global economic growth this year from 3.1 percent to 2.9 percent.

At the 10th G20 summit, held on 15-16 November 2015 in Turkey, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the theme of the 2016 G20 will be “jointly striving for an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy”. “And in this regard, China’s policy aligns with a global policy”, he said. In February, the G20 financial ministers and central bank governors meeting in Shanghai helped calm global foreign exchange market volatility, as leaders promised in the communiqué not to use competitive devaluation to boost exports. “I hope it will achieve the respective result”, he added.