2nd LD Writethru: U.S. president arrives in China for G20 summit

U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in this eastern Chinese city on Saturday for the 11th summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies.

He joined a constellation of national leaders and international organization chiefs who had already arrived for this year's G20 gathering, which is themed "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy."

At the G20 summit, the last for Obama, he will "emphasize the need to continue building on the progress made since 2009 in advancing strong, sustainable and balanced global growth," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a press briefing prior to the trip.

"He will underscore the importance of G20 cooperation and promoting a level playing field and broad-based economic opportunity," he added.

In a telephone conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in early August, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington is willing to work together with Beijing to make a success of the G20 Hangzhou summit.

On the sidelines of the leaders' meeting of the world's premier platform for international economic cooperation, which is to open Sunday, Obama is also scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

China expects the Xi-Obama meeting, their second this year, to bear rich fruit both in bilateral cooperation and in policy coordination within multilateral frameworks, including the G20, Zhu Guangyao, Chinese vice finance minister, said Friday at a press conference.

A good example of U.S.-China cooperation is that the two sides "have been able to work effectively together to establish a framework to address climate change," Earnest said at another recent White House press briefing.

The progress made by the United States and China "really catalyzed broader international progress on this issue," he added. "Without that kind of progress ... it's difficult to envision the kind of international progress that we've seen on this issue just in the last year or so."

Shortly before Obama's arrival, China's top legislature ratified the Paris Agreement in the latest demonstration of Beijing's commitment to fighting climate change. The United States is expected to follow suit.

The heads of state of the two largest economies in the world have met on a number of occasions. During their meeting on March 31 on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Xi stressed the importance for China and the United States to be firmly committed to the right direction of building a new model of major-country relations and follow the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

The Hangzhou meeting, "just as every strategic talk they have held in recent years, will produce a very positive and important influence on China-U.S. bilateral relations," Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the United States, said in mid-August.

The U.S. president is also scheduled to hold meetings with some other leaders attending the G20 summit, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and new British Prime Minister Theresa May.

From China, Obama is set to fly to Laos to continue his ongoing Asia trip, which is widely presumed to be his last to the continent as president. There he will meet with Southeast Asian leaders and attend the East Asia Summit. Endi