State Councilor Yang Jiechi (front, third from left) joins other officials from G20 economies at the First G20 Sherpa Meeting in Beijing on Thursday. The three-day gathering forms part of the runup to the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. (Photo: China Daily/Feng Yongbin)
Beijing aims to play bigger rule-setting role ahead of Hangzhou summit, observers say multimedia-container
China aims to contribute more to setting global economic rules as it prepares to host the G20 summit in September, according to observers.
They made the observation as the First G20 Sherpa Meeting began in Beijing on Thursday. The three-day gathering is being attended by senior officials as part of the run-up to the summit in Hangzhou, Zhejinag province.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi, addressing Thursday's opening session, said China has several goals for hosting the summit this year. One of these is to enhance the role of the G20 from being a mechanism to tackle crises to one exercising long-term, effective management.
Yang said whether the G20 realizes this successful transformation and sees achievements in addressing new global economic challenges "concerns the overall development of all the member states and influences the very interests of all countries in the world".
He said the G20 will play a leading role, showcase ambitions and outline directions for world economic development and international economic cooperation.
The G20 is expected to draw up rules and indicators and inspect their implementation, providing benchmarks for assessing cooperation, Yang said.
Chen Fengying, a senior researcher of the world economy at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said such a shift in the G20's role will help to "address both root causes and symptoms".
The G20 represents nearly 90 percent of the global economy's volume and 80 percent of international trade. China, in addition to making its voice heard on the global stage, has begun to offer more initiatives, Chen said.
"The G20 is still irreplaceable because of its important role in leading the world economy toward robust and balanced growth," Chen said.
Huang Wei, a researcher of global economic governance at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that behind China's latest initiatives and proposed measures lies its unique philosophy and its own "rhythms of exercising economic governance".
"Given the global governance interest ... the developing countries — including the emerging economies — have received some response to their pursuits, but this is far from enough. So we need to do more in this regard," Huang said.
Timetable
This year's G20 Summit will be held on Sept 4 and 5 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Here is a summary of some of the meetings scheduled to held in association with the summit:
Four so-called Sherpa Meetings will convene before the summit to prepare for it and one afterward for follow-up work.
Jan 13-15: First Sherpa Meeting, Beijing.
April 6-8: Second Sherpa Meeting, Guangzhou.
June 23-25: Third Sherpa Meeting, Xiamen.
Early September: Fourth Sherpa Meeting, Hangzhou.
Late October / early November: Fifth Sherpa Meeting, Wuhan.
Dates for meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors to move toward the financial agenda:
Feb 26-27: First meeting, Shanghai.
April 13-14: Second meeting, Washington, DC.
July 23-24: Third meeting, Chengdu.
Oct 6: Finance ministers and central bank governors working dinner, Washington DC.
Meetings of trade, employment, energy and agriculture ministers as well as working groups will be held separately to promote cooperation and to prepare for the summit.
Source: G20 website
