G20’s mission and China’s role in fulfilling it
- By Liu Cun
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 7, 2016
The G20 was originally a ministerial dialogue mechanism among finance ministers and central bank governors at its inception in 1999. The purpose was to encourage dialogue and cooperation between developed countries and major developing countries on issues of substance with a view to financial stability and sustainable economic growth. Following the 2008 financial crisis, the mechanism was upgraded to summit-level out of the need to bring to full bear the increasingly significant influence of its membership.
Thirty-five years ago, the famous Cancun Summit was held in Mexico, attended by leaders of eight developed countries and 14 developing countries. It was the first major North-South dialogue that ever took place, even though the meeting was dominated by developed countries throughout. As things changed, such dialogue took on the form of the “G8 Outreach Session” or “eight plus five”. Essentially, at each G8 summit, leaders of the five most sizable developing countries, namely, China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa joined the G8 leaders for one dialogue session, signifying an opening in the developed countries-dominated economic governance structure.
Today, with the emergence of the G20, there is no more “outreach” or “plus five”. The G7 may still have the leadership and say in a lot of fields, yet the G20 is clearly taking the center stage with 90% of the global GDP, 80% of international trade and two thirds of world population, making it the natural premier forum for global governance. The increasing weight of BRICS and other emerging economies in the G20 is gaining them a more or less equal status when sitting down at the table with the developed members.
Since 2008, the G20 has been a constructive tool in pushing back the shock of the financial crisis and boosting global cooperation and economic growth. As the theme of the 2011 G20 Summit in Cannes, “New World, New Ideas”, suggests, the G20 really needs to make sense of this new world we all live in and search for new ideas to deal with it effectively. In this new world, all of us need to reexamine our position, find new ideas, take up new responsibilities and develop new policy tools. Any country trying to have all the say or shift blame on others will only end up unwelcomed. In a globalized world, no country can insulate itself from others’ economic woes. Bearing that in mind will help the G20 take the right steps in the right direction, not least for its upcoming summit in Hangzhou.
Until last year, the G20 had never held a summit outside developed countries. The Republic of Korea, a member of the Group of 24, hosted one in 2010. This year, it will meet for the very first time in China, the world’s largest developing country, which makes the Hangzhou summit all the more special. Today, few would doubt China’s influence in global economic and financial cooperation, as it rises in economic growth and national strength. Apart from China’s G20 presidency, this year is significant because it is also the inaugural year of the implementation of the 13th five-year development plan and the operation of the AIIB and “Belt and Road” initiative. In this context, the G20 Hangzhou Summit and China will certainly benefit from each other’s agendas and actions. On an equally important note, the new foreign policy concepts China has adopted in recent years such as “win-win cooperation”, “a new model of major-country relationship” and “a global community of shared future” will undoubtedly contribute to stronger partnership and a G20 committed to a better future for the world.
Liu Cun is a G20 observer.
This post was first published at Chinausfocus.com To see the original version please visit http://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/g20s-mission-and-chinas-role-in-fulfilling-it/
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