BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- As leaders of the world's major economies gather in Buenos Aires for the 13th Group of 20 (G20) Summit under protectionist and unilateralist shadows, expectations are running high for them to give full play to the mechanism's role as the premier platform for international economic cooperation.

Since the inaugural G20 summit in 2008, China has played a constructive role, attaching great importance to G20 cooperation, contributing ideas and solutions for better global economic governance, and demonstrating its commitment as a responsible major country.

CONTRIBUTING WISDOM

G20 summitry started in the throes of the international financial crisis. During the past 10 years, the group has made remarkable achievements in dealing with the turmoil, stabilizing the world economy and promoting global economic governance.

China, along with other emerging countries, have made great contributions to the development of the mechanism.

Since the 2008 financial tornado, China has been actively involved in policy coordination with other members under the multilateral mechanism, playing a very important role in containing financial panic and crisis, said Song Lishui, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Japan's Meiji Gakuin University.

After the crisis, the G20 summit shifted more attention to world economic growth and better global governance. For that matter, China has proposed a series of important views and ideas, sharing its wisdom with the world.

In St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping presented a host of new ideas at the eighth G20 Summit, including innovative development, interconnected growth and integrated interests. In Brisbane, Australia, in 2014, he called for a new path of growth and urged the world to build an open world economy.

At the 2015 Antalya summit in Turkey, the Chinese president proposed that major economies strengthen coordination on macroeconomic policy, facilitate innovation-driven development and implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In 2016, China set a new milestone in the history of G20 cooperation, with the Hangzhou summit marking the group's transformation from a crisis response mechanism focused on short-term policies to one on long-term governance that shapes medium- to long-term policies.

What's more, consensus reached at the Hangzhou summit was carried on during the 2017 summit in Germany's Hamburg.

Evandro Carvalho, a professor of international law at Brazil's Getulio Vargas Foundation, highlighted the outstanding role of China and other emerging economies, saying their contributions have turned the mechanism into a platform that is well suited to dealing with global financial and economic issues.

As an important participant, promoter and navigator of the G20 mechanism, China-proposed concepts and ideas have charted a right course for better global economic governance and sustainable world economic development, said Chen Fengying, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

FULFILLING COMMITMENTS

From deepening reform and expanding opening-up to championing multilateralism and free trade, and from advancing Belt and Road cooperation to launching the world's first import-themed national-level expo, China has fulfilled its commitment to building an open world economy and promoting economic globalization for the benefit of more countries and people.

From 2013 to 2017, China has contributed over 30 percent of world growth. In the next 15 years, China is estimated to import 24 trillion U.S. dollars' worth of goods and attract 2 trillion dollars of inbound direct investment.

In face of rising protectionism, Chen said, China has made great efforts in expanding opening-up, upholding multilateralism and promoting South-South cooperation, and injected new impetus to the sustainable development of world economy.

Song noted that China has rolled out a series of policies to open its market wider to the outside world, and that China's practical actions play a great role in safeguarding the free trade system and guiding the direction of economic globalization.

B.R. Deepak, a professor at the Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies in India's Jawaharlal Nehru University, said that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is crucial to the development of economic globalization, and it is a good cure for the world to address tough issues such as anti-globalization sentiment and trade protectionism.

In the eyes of Carvalho, China's successful import expo is a fine example of China's efforts to build an open world economy, and has showed the world that China's support for free trade is not diplomatic language, but practical action.

FORGING CONSENSUS

With economic globalization challenged by rising protectionism and unilateralism, observers across the world expect China and other G20 members to use the summit to uphold globalization, multilateralism and free trade and send a positive message to the world.

"It is vital for the G20 to maintain its role as a premier forum on international economic cooperation, follow through on the consensus of previous summits, and chart the course for the world economy," Xi said in a signed article published on Argentine media.

Cambridge University professor Alan Barrell, speaking highly of the G20 Hangzhou summit two years ago, said he believes China will continue to play an important role at the summit in Argentina in pushing forward globalization.

"China can play a very big part" in the G20 mechanism, Barrell told Xinhua, while lauding China's consistency and determination in pursuing common development and advancing globalization.

Consensus reached at the Hangzhou summit has strongly boosted the building of an open world economy, said Marina Larionova, a Russian scholar. She added that she hopes the consensus can be reaffirmed at the Buenos Aires summit and carried out with continuous efforts.

Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie said China has "a very important role to play" in the G20 forum and his country "particularly valued China's experience" as host of the 2016 summit.

"China's positions, which we always understand as constructive positions, are designed to help forge the future of issues that concern us all, such as climate change and the progress of international trade," he added.

"China's constructive attitude ... is very important for the development of the G20," said Faurie. Enditem

(Xinhua reporters Zhao Yan, Chen Weihua, Luan Hai, Zhao Xu, Gu Zhenqiu, Sun Xiaoling, Wang Huihui, Wang Kejia, Yang Shilong, Li Feihu, Liu Chen, Zhu Dongyang, and Liu Pinran also contributed to the story.)

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)