Tomorrow (September 5), Mr Tsang will continue to take part in the G20 Leaders’ Summit and meet with counterparts of other countries participating in the G20.
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Another prominent issue at the summit is G-20 member Britain’s June vote to leave the 28-nation European Union, seen by some analysts as the first in a wave of moves by other nations to retreat from free trade.
Opening the Group of 20 meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping appealed Sunday for governments to resist pressure to raise trade barriers.
G20 countries are set to agree in a communique at the end of the summit that all policy measures – including monetary, fiscal and structural reforms – should be used to achieve solid and sustainable economic growth, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said.
In their first meeting together, British Prime Minister Theresa May has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that she wants a “frank and open relationship” with Moscow despite their differences.
China hopes its status as G-20 host will bring it more influence in management of the global economy.
“Our response to climate change bears on the future of our people and the wellbeing of mankind”, he said.
“Where countries like China and the United States are prepared to show leadership and to lead by example, it is possible for us to create a world that is more secure, more prosperous, and more free than the one that was left for us”, Obama said in announcing America’s adoption of the agreement.
Overcapacity in the global steel industry, a sore point for China as the world’s largest producer of the metal, barriers to foreign investment and the risk of currency devaluations to protect export markets will also figure in the discussions.
When asked about potential conflicts and the cold reception, Obama told a press conference, “the seams are showing a little more than usual”, but quickly played it down by adding: “I wouldn’t over-crank the significance of it”. He called on Beijing to accept a monitoring mechanism for overproduction that Beijing’s trading partners blame for low prices and job losses.
Beijing has also criticised Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, for running surveillance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
EU President Donald Tusk said Europe was “close to limits” on its ability to accept new waves of refugees and urged the broader global community to shoulder its share of the burden.
The White House says the president brought up Chinese economic practices that the US has been concerned about – like overproduction of steel, currency manipulation and the contentious maritime issues in the South China Sea, where China’s been building islands on what were previously reefs and shoals.
The China-US ratification and the great Chinese initiatives put useful pressure on those UN-members that have not yet ratified or made their own national action plans, ” he said.
She said: “Of course we have a relationship with them, we will work with them”.
The news agency said he spoke “angrily to her” and that Rice responded, but her comments could not be heard.
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Ms May was extremely busy at the summit as she tried to reassure world leaders about post-Brexit Britain.
