PRESS RELEASE
China Pushing Growth Agenda for G20 Summit
Aug. 16, 2016 (EIRNS)—Three top Chinese officials told press reporters in Beijing today that China would propose a joint initiative to revive global economic growth at the Sept. 4-5 Summit of the G20 countries in Hangzhou, where President Xi Jinping will deliver the keynote speech. The officials said that details of the proposal are still being worked out, but it "will include reforms aimed at strengthening the global financial system and promoting technological innovation," Associated Press reported.
According to Xinhua, Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong told reporters that "China will put forward a blueprint for innovation-driven growth... to find new drivers of global growth." Li reiterated China’s hope that the G20 can move out of short-term responses, and address "a governance mechanism with long-lasting effect," China Daily reports.
Vice-Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao specified that
"the summit will further focus on dealing with pressing risks facing the global economy and financial market,"
while Yi Gang, Vice-Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), told reporters that
"China has called on G20 members to refrain from competitive devaluations and facilitated discussions on the foreign exchange market within the G20 framework, the first time in G20 history, to build confidence in the market,"
and that it is expected that
"on financial reform, the summit will produce outcomes on establishing an open and prudent financial system, setting up a macroprudential policy framework and developing inclusive finance."
Zhu noted that if people cannot feel the benefits of globalization, and if globalization "cannot truly improve people’s lives," they will not support it.
China has made sure the Western would-be "Gods of Olympus" will find themselves facing an expanded group of developing sector nations at this summit.
"The summit will have the best representation of developing countries in G20 history. China has invited a record number of developing countries, including Chad, Chair of the African Union; Laos, Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); Senegal, Chair of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); Egypt; and Kazakhstan,"
Xinhua emphasized yesterday.
Former Mexican Ambassador Jorge Eduardo Navarrete reflected the enthusiasm felt by many around the world that China is this year’s host, when he told Xinhua on August 14:
"It is significant that a country committed to economic growth policies, in contrast with those favoring stabilization policies, is presiding over the G20.... The objective should be growth, employment and social progress, not stability and stagnation... In 2016, we need a country like China... to push in this direction; to lead the group in the adoption of efficient policies that will ensure economic growh, job creation, and social development."
