'We are in the same boat': Xi dynamizes G20 cooperation in uncertain world

BEIJING -- As a representative mix of the world's major economies, the Group of Twenty has become the premier forum the world looks up to today in moments of global economic turmoil and crisis.

With a thorough grasp of the G20's unique role, President Xi Jinping has consistently championed the G20's joint efforts to follow the spirit of sailing in the same boat and join hands to live up to their respective duty.

"All G20 members should take the responsibility inherent in being major international and regional players, and should lead by example in promoting development of all nations, improving the well-being for the whole mankind, and advancing progress of the entire world," he once said.

Now as Xi joins other leaders for the 19th G20 summit in Brazil, the international community is keen to see how they will address the great uncertainties troubling today's world, particularly what solutions China will propose for building a better future for all.

RISE TO CHALLENGE

When G20 leaders gathered for their first summit in November 2008 in Washington, they were struggling to cope with an unprecedented global financial meltdown. By championing a collective drive, the group helped steer the global economy away from the brink of an abyss and put it onto the path of recovery.

Over the past few years, China has joined other G20 members in tackling another major crisis, the most serious global pandemic in a century and ensuing economic slump. This time the battle is even more onerous. As Xi observed, the impact was even worse than that of the 2008 maelstrom.

To rejuvenate post-pandemic global economic recovery, Xi called on all G20 members to rise to the challenge, enhance international macro-economic policy coordination, jointly stabilize global industrial and supply chains, and reduce trade barriers, including tariffs.

"It is imperative that we apply the right prescriptions to address both symptoms and root causes of the problems we face," he said at the 2021 G20 summit.

Xi's multi-pronged measures "are systematic, comprehensive and focused," said Lu Feng, an emeritus professor of economics at Peking University. "They have enriched G20's policy toolkit, and enhanced its proactivity and foresight in governing global economy."

One of the key problems the G20 members jointly addressed was the debt burden that was straining low-income countries' resources for fighting the pandemic and safeguarding lives. In April 2020, the G20 announced a Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to help vulnerable countries, an exceptional financial safety net that was extended through December 2021.

Under Xi's leadership, China implemented the G20's DSSI in all respects, and suspended the largest amount of debt service payment among all G20 members.

"China fulfilled its role fairly well as a responsible G20 stakeholder" in helping address African countries' sovereign debt problem, said a report by the China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University, a program dedicated to understanding the political and economic aspects of China-Africa relations.

BUILD A GARDEN FOR ALL

As important as the G20's initial mandate as a firefighter to deal with global economic crises is, Xi envisions a bigger role for it.

The Chinese leader has consistently advocated the cause of common development, vowing China is committed to building "a garden shared by all countries." "The G20 works for the interest of not just its 20 members, but the whole world," he once said.

Particularly, as a steadfast champion of equal rights to development, especially for developing countries, Xi maintains that development is real only when all countries develop together, and frontrunners should sincerely help others develop.

In September 2016, Xi chaired the G20 summit in East China's Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. During that meeting, China invited more developing countries than any prior G20 gathering, and marked a shift in the G20's focus from short-term crisis response to long-term governance.

Three seminal precedents were set at that landmark summit. For the first time, development featured prominently in the global macro-policy framework, an action plan was adopted on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the G20 as a group lent support to the industrialization in Africa and the least developed countries. Xi, in his keynote speech, described those three "firsts" as "moves of pioneering significance."

To help other developing countries meet their development aspirations, Xi has also been working to increase their representation in the global economic governance system. Despite the remarkable rise of the Global South over recent years, developing countries remain underrepresented in global governance.

"The global governance system dominated by the West has become prominently unjust and unfair, hindering global security and sustainable development," said Xu Feibiao, director of the Center for BRICS and G20 Studies at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR).

At the 2022 G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, China took the lead in supporting the African Union (AU) joining the G20. In their meeting on the sidelines of the summit, then Senegalese President Macky Sall, who was also the AU chairperson that year, thanked Xi for being the first to publicly support the AU's G20 membership. A year later, the bloc became the second regional organization -- following the European Union -- to join the G20 as a permanent member.

Xi's contribution to the G20 is part of a long-term vision of "a fairer, more united, more effective and more sustainable world order," Pierre Defraigne, executive director of the Madariaga-College of Europe Foundation, once commented.

CREATE A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER

"What is wrong with this world, what we should do about it?" Xi raised "the question of our times" at the Bali G20 summit, after he first asked the question at the World Economic Forum back in 2017 at Davos, Switzerland.

"The world economy is getting more fragile. The geopolitical environment remains tense. Global governance is seriously inadequate. Food and energy crises are compounded with one another. All this poses formidable challenges to our development," he observed.

The G20 accounts for two-thirds of the world's population and contributes nearly 90 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 80 percent of global trade. Thus, as Xi sees it, it is incumbent on the group to play a leading role in tiding the world over the current rough patch and creating a better future for humanity.

"Facing global challenges, all countries are in the same boat, and the only way out is to work together and strengthen cooperation," said Xu, the CICIR scholar. "As long as the G20 members stand together, they will bring hope to the world as to fixing global problems."

As the leader of the world's second-largest economy, Xi walks his talk. Although protectionism has reared its head over recent years, Xi stands firm on defending globalization and building an open world economy.

At the Osaka summit in 2019, in defiance of strong unilateralist and protectionist headwinds, Xi announced five major measures to further open up the Chinese market, including increasing imports and providing equal treatment to all types of businesses. China, under his leadership, has remained a major engine for global economic growth, contributing around 30 percent of world growth over the years.

To "the question of our times," Xi has his answer -- building a community with a shared future for mankind. At the Bali summit, he called on all countries to embrace the vision, and advocate peace, development, and win-win cooperation.

Over the past decade, China has contributed its strength to this overarching vision with firm conviction and solid actions. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a vivid example. So far, over 150 countries and over 30 international organizations have signed cooperation documents with Beijing under the BRI, a testimony to its growing global appeal.

As a crucial cornerstone of building a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi proposed in recent years the three global initiatives, namely the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, offering China's solutions to major global challenges pertaining to peace and development.

"In a time marked by fears, irrationalities and confusion, Xi Jinping is rightly calling for a rational approach to solve the issues we collectively face," said David Gosset, a French expert on international affairs and founder of the Europe-China Forum, adding that China's openness and predictability have become a key stabilizing factor in a world of risks and uncertainties.