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DecThe 13th G20 summit concluded in Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires recently. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech entitled "Look Beyond the Horizon and Steer the World in the Right Direction", which was highly recognized by the attendees. He urged the G20 members to stay committed to openness and cooperation, forge a strong partnership, encourage innovation, and promote inclusive global development, providing the ever-changing world with Chinese wisdom and programs to embrace the erratic international situation.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the G20 summit as well as the outbreak of the global financial crisis. The coincidence of the two 10th anniversaries means G20's historical task is to help the world get rid of the crisis originated from Western countries. As a matter of fact, from the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008 to the organization of the 1st G20 summit in November that year, such a quick response is sufficient to reveal the severity of the crisis and reflect extreme helplessness of Western countries at that time: They had to seek the cooperation with economies such as emerging market countries, developing countries and regional organizations, so as to resolve the deep-rooted contradictions arising from internal development of respective countries, and pull the world economy back to the right track.
Historical development over the past decade has proved that G20’s urgent task proposed since its establishment has been well accomplished, and the forum itself has also become the most crucial leading mechanism in global economic governance. Data show that the G20 has covered two thirds of the global population, with its GDP accounting for 85% in the world. From the perspective of influence, the G20 has enhanced the connectivity and cooperation worldwide and provided consensus for global economic development through the annual leaders’ summit and a series of ministerial conferences. These active cooperation practices under such a multilateral framework have all proved a fact that the G20 member states should remember the aspiration of win-win cooperation, in order to steer the world economy in the right direction.
It has been ten years since the outbreak of the global economic crisis, but many problems still exist in the development of the world economy. The lack of momentum for global growth has brought about uncertainties to sustainable and steady growth of the world economy; the sluggish governance of the global economy is difficult to adapt to its new forms and changes; issues such as the imbalance of global development, between the poor and the rich, and of the development space as well as distribution inequality still need to be solved ; the impact of economic globalization has been twisted and overstated in some countries, triggering the rise of unilateralism and protectionism. These old and new problems are all potential threats that constantly impede the steady development of the world economy, as well as the key for the world economy to walk of the dilemma. The G20 is still a major coordination platform for global economic policies, but now it needs to add new thoughts and guiding forces, said Robert Kahn, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
In this process, China’s active guidance is of vital importance. Since the 1st G20 summit, China's voice and programs have attracted much attention, and have been widely viewed as the steering wheel and the engine of the world economy. China has strengthened its interaction with the G20 and made its domestic and foreign policies aligned with the themes of the G20 summits, thus bringing more Chinese opportunities to the world. At the 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit, the participating parties reached important consensus on innovation and new drivers for economic development of respective countries and the world under the critical guidance of China’s strategic vision, clarifying the core thinking of the world economy on following new trends such as a new round of industrial revolutions and the digital economy, and embracing new challenges such as climate change and population aging.
Take history as a mirror, one can know how the things rise and fall. Through ten years of development, the G20 requires a new journey. Amid the complicated international political situation and the pressure on the slowdown of the world economy, China once again put forward solutions that meet the interests of the community with a shared future: openness and cooperation, partnership, innovation and inclusive global development. At the summit, President Xi reiterated China’s experience in and contributions to adhering to the reform and opening-up and determining to eliminate absolute poverty, as a commitment to the world.
While the G20 sets out again, China with the launch of the reform and opening-up for 40 years also embarks on a new journey. The successful experience in the past four decades proves that China’s steady and rapid development benefits from the right direction of the reform and opening-up. Today, as a responsible power, China’s high-quality development plays an important role in the prosperity and stability of the world economy. At this G20 summit, China once again demonstrated its determination and faith in the constant reform and opening-up and high-quality development, and sent out a sincere invitation to other countries for mutual benefit, win-win results, shared development, common prosperity and the joint building of a community with a shared future for mankind. We expect the world economy to overcome all the difficulties and gain more growth momentum under the guidance of the concept of a community with a shared future.
Diao Daming, Research Fellow of National Academy of Development and Strategy, RUC
http://bjrb.bjd.com.cn/html/2018-12/05/content_303228.htm
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