With the G20 Leaders' Summit to be held in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, on Sept 4-5, the city has come under the spotlight of the world media. But since the G20 summit is being held in the shadow of the global economic downturn, will the annual meeting lead the global governance and global economic recovery? How can China as the host better play the role of a responsible power?
The G20 members agree that economic cooperation, in "the spirit of win-win partnership", is the way forward, and their shared aim is to build "an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive global economy".
Given these facts, the G20 needs to find innovative ways to boost global economic growth, and reform the global economic and financial governance system to make it more resilient to possible risks and give developing countries greater say. Besides, the economic bloc should also propel international trade and investment to support sustainable growth. The common purpose of its members should be to realize the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 through win-win partnership.
After several conferences of coordinators, as well as frequent discussions, the economies participating in the Hangzhou G20 summit have already accepted this fact. That's why China is confident the G20 summit will fulfill its objectives. As the host country and chair of G20 this year, China will continue to contribute to global economic growth.
For the G20 to play its important role in global governance, it has to understand the real economic difficulties the world faces today. The G20 was born in 1999, when developing countries were on the rise and playing a greater role in the global economic growth. And over the past 17 years, the bloc has served as a very important platform for dialogue between developed countries and emerging market economies.
Facts show the G20 is a platform for developed and developing countries to discuss economic issues of global importance, for which its members have to respect each other's core interests and identify areas of greatest common interests for cooperation.
Their largest common interest, however, lies in taking the globalization process forward. Through globalization, countries can share more common interests and economic gains. Since globalization requires free trade and investment, it facilitates fairer distribution of resources among economies and promotes equitable international rules.
Both emerging market economies and developed countries benefit from globalization. The United States has been pushing forward its Washington Consensus, but because it promotes the free flow of commodities and capital without considering the actual conditions of other countries, its policies have hurt many economies.
One of the US presidential candidates has blamed economic globalization for the recession in the US, claiming Chinese workers have "taken away" jobs from their American counterparts. This is baseless because trade protectionism is not conducive to global economic growth, so the G20 has to take a stance that opposes the US presidential candidate's preposterous claims. To begin with, the G20 has to reform the global financial system, help promote the free flow of trade and investment, while keeping the real conditions of different economies in mind, to propel global economic growth.
China's Belt and Road Initiative is an excellent example of how the global financial mechanism can be reformed. The initiative is conducive to the trend of the times, advocates equality and win-win cooperation in international matters, and helps developing countries and developed countries to better interact with each other.
As the host of the G20 summit, China will do its best to deepen coordination and cooperation among the bloc's members. Since this year also marks the beginning of China's 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), as well as the operations of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative, China will do everything in its power to make the G20 summit a grand success and lead the world out of the economic crisis.
The author Wang Yusheng is executive director of the Strategy Research Center of China International Studies Research Fund.
