Xi to attend G20 Summit in Indonesia

President plans talks with several world leaders, including Biden

President Xi Jinping will attend the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Bali, Indonesia and the 29th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, and visit Thailand next week, with expectations high that China will use the multilateral occasions to call for international cooperation to promote global economic recovery.

While announcing on Friday Xi's first foreign visit after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that Xi will also hold a series of bilateral meetings with foreign leaders on the sidelines of the multilateral events, including French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden, Senegalese President Macky Sall and Argentine President Alberto Fernandez.

Xi's visit, from Monday to Saturday, comes at a time when the world needs greater momentum to recover from the economic slowdown due to COVID-19 as well as broader consensus to strengthen international cooperation to cope with global challenges.

It is expected that Xi will use his foreign visit to translate the vision of openness and cooperation — which was clearly defined at the 20th CPC National Congress in dealing with relations between China and the world — into concrete action, said Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies' Department of American Studies.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular news conference on Friday that as the main forum for international economic cooperation, the G20 should bolster international solidarity and cooperation and coordinate macroeconomic policies with members to join hands to boost strong, sustainable, inclusive and balanced growth of the global economy.

China supports Indonesia, as presidency of the G20, to host the summit themed "Recover Together, Recover Stronger", and hopes that G20 members can build up consensus and advance cooperation on promoting global economic recovery and implementing the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Zhao said.

He described Xi's attendance at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bangkok as an important diplomatic activity for the Asia-Pacific region. It fully demonstrates the importance Beijing attaches to Asia-Pacific economic cooperation, Zhao added.

Xi will deliver an important speech at the multilateral meeting, making proposals on deepening regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and promoting regional and global economic growth, he said.

Su said that looking back, China has played an important role in global governance through the mechanism of the G20. As the global economy is currently dealing with surging inflation, rising protectionism and ideology-driven decoupling, the G20 should continue to act as a platform to advance global governance and jointly deal with the challenges the world is facing, she added.

Su highlighted the role of APEC in promoting regional economic integration, saying China might use the APEC leaders meeting to further call for openness and cooperation, which is particularly important for many developing countries.

In terms of the meeting between the Chinese and US presidents in Bali, Zhao said at the news conference that the steady development of Sino-US ties conforms to the interests of both countries and meets the expectations of countries around the world.

It is hoped that the US will meet China halfway in the spirit of mutual respect to contribute to global stability and development in a responsible manner, he added.

Su said that against the backdrop of the deterioration of China-US ties in recent years and the profound changes in the international landscape, it is more important than ever for the leaders of the world's two biggest economies to sit and talk together.

The meeting between Xi and Biden is highly anticipated because the world wants ties between China and the US to remain stable, Su said. China has been making positive efforts to stabilize bilateral ties, but it takes two to tango, she added.