Xinhua Insight: China's G20 influence continues to grow

A founding member, China has participated in every step of the G20's history, with its contributions continuing to grow.

The world is now watching how China will take the opportunity to host the 2016 G20 summit to promote global growth and push for reforms in global governance.

The upcoming summit, to be held in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, will be set against a backdrop of heightened uncertainty in the global economy and the rise of trade and investment protectionism.

The world is crying out for strengthened coordination of global governance to secure global economic stability.

China can play a role in reducing the risk of conflict and spreading economic development around the world, said Ezra Vogel, a professor emeritus at Harvard University.

CHINA'S ECONOMIC WISDOM

The G20 was initiated in 1999. Before the outbreak of the 2008 global financial crisis, G20 meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors were held to discuss international financial and economic matters. Chinese representatives attended every such meeting.

In 2008, the first G20 leaders' summit was held in Washington. In September 2009, the Pittsburgh summit announced G20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

From the first leaders' summit to the latest one in Antalya of Turkey in 2015, Chinese leaders have never been absent, always having constructive proposals on how to cope with financial crises and achieve sustained global growth.

Leaders in China have pushed hard for reforms in international financial institutions, innovation in growth patterns, coordinated macro policies and an open world economy.

At the Antalya summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the G20 members should make innovation-driven development, cultivation of new growth areas, and revitalization of trade and investment their cooperation priorities.

Xi also stressed "rejecting protectionism, and upholding and strengthening the multilateral trading regime in order to provide sufficient space for the development of different countries."

According to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the Hangzhou summit is expected to produce nearly 30 deliverable outcomes, with special emphasis on promoting a strong, sustainable and balanced global growth through innovation, sorting out economic and financial problems by means of structural reforms, and implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through enhanced cooperation.

"China is one of the biggest contributors to the G20's comprehensive growth strategies," said Zhu Shuai, researcher with the China Center for Information Industry Development.

"The G20 mechanism is shifting from coping with crises to long-term governance, and from cyclical policies to structural policies. China will help the G20 transform smoothly, thus consolidating its status as a major platform for global economic governance."

DRIVING FORCE OF GLOBAL GROWTH

China's growing role in the G20 is underpinned by its substantial contribution to the global economy and its policies and initiatives that target benefits for all.

Between 2009 and 2011, China contributed to more than 50 percent of global economic growth. The figure now remains above 30 percent despite a moderating of the country's economic growth.

Though slowing, China's GDP still expanded by 6.7 percent year on year in the first half of 2016, with progress made in improving the structure of its economy.

China has the confidence and ability to sustain a medium-high growth rate and continue to create development opportunities for other countries, Xi said at the Antalya summit.

Meanwhile, continued downward pressure has brought various difficulties to many other economies, which are in dire need of new sources of growth.

China's practices, such as the ongoing supply-side structural reform, offer inspiration to the world.

Moreover, recent years have seen China's initiatives, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, contributing more and more to global economic recovery and development.

The progress and results achieved since 2013, when Xi first proposed the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, have been greater than expected.

More than 100 countries and international organizations have participated in the initiative; a network of transportation facilities is taking shape in Eurasia; and China invested a total of 51.1 billion U.S. dollars in Belt and Road countries from autumn 2013 to July 2016.

"China's initiatives have been implementing and complementing G20 goals," said Professor Yang Baoyun of Thailand's Thammasat University.

SAFEGUARDING DEVELOPING NATIONS' INTERESTS

One of China's aims over the years has been to beef up the role of developing countries in global economic governance.

Under the G20, China has always committed itself to supporting developing countries, bridging development gaps and boosting balanced global growth.

At the Brisbane summit in 2014, Xi Jinping said that efforts should be made to increase the presence of developing countries and emerging market economies and to offer them a bigger say in international systems, as well as to ensure the equality of different countries in global economic cooperation, in terms of rights, opportunities and rules.

Representatives from more developing nations have been invited to the Hangzhou summit, making the summit "the most representative of developing countries in G20 history," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a press briefing in May.

"In hosting the G20, China has an opportunity to take a lead in expanding the benefits of modernization to areas in the Euro-Asian area that have not yet advanced," Ezra Vogel said.

The 2016 summit will also launch an initiative to support the industrialization of Africa and the least developed countries through capacity building, investment and infrastructure development.

"China, a major developing country and the world's second largest economy, has served as a critical bridge connecting developed and developing members of the G20, a role that any other country cannot readily undertake," Yang said.

He voiced hope that through the G2O, China could align the economic interests of developing and developed nations, formulate common goals and promote cooperation. Endi