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Snubs Abound as G20 Summit Gets off the Ground

While most of America was watching college football or grilling this holiday weekend, an worldwide incident with China involving President Obama almost occurred, and an intelligence agency tried to take the scrap with the giant nation to Twitter.

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Xi told the gathering of world leaders from the nation’s 20 largest economies that their countries need to “enhance mutual understanding” in order to face a “crucial juncture for the world economy”. And though Obama shrugged off the comments from the “colorful” leader during his own news conference Monday, the White House later canceled his meeting with Duterte – and conferring instead with the President of South Korea.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day G-20 Leaders’ Summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, he underscored the importance of having all the members “fully honour” their commitments.

China is hosting this high-level summit for the first time. Many hope the heavyweight get-together could set a course for global growth.

However, Mr Obama said the incident should not be overblown.

The president noted China has been run during his lifetime by a Communist party that has been “much more anti-Western” in the past. In response, she was told, “This is our country, this is our airport”.

Leaders pose for pictures during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China September 4, 2016.

So far, Xi’s efforts to persuade his peers to transform the familiar rhetoric into reality seem to have paid off.

G20 leaders are likely to renew their promises to use tax and spending policies to invigorate the sluggish world economy, although a new pro-growth push was unlikely. It’s not the first time it’s happened.

Chairing the G20 also offers China a unique opportunity to participate in the top-level design of global economic governance. The joint statement reflects that ambition by calling the G-20 the “premier forum” for economic co-operation.

China’s increasing involvement in the G20, and in global governance in general, evolved gradually.

The president pointed out that this was not the first time there had been tension with the Chinese over security and news media access during his travels.

But the Americans weren’t the only ones who had to deal with angry officials in China-according to the Washington Post, Chinese officials were arguing with each other before Obama even arrived.

There was also a row on the tarmac when a Chinese official shouted “This is our country!” as reporters and USA officials tried to bypass a cordon. “Eight years later, the world economy is again at a critical moment”, Xi said.

But President Obama said, “Maybe as [Press Secretary] Josh [Earnest] put it, the seams are showing a little more than usual in terms of some of the negotiations and jostling that takes place behind the scenes”.

Wang Wen, executive dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies with the Renmin University of China, sees the summit as “a landmark event in the history of China’s diplomacy that reveals the growing influence and soft power of the country”.

Emphasis on global governance is now a hallmark of China’s diplomacy, and features prominently when Xi addresses domestic audiences. “It may help to reassure countries about tangible steps China is taking”, he said. That call was renewed at the Hangzhou summit, attended by a record number of developing countries.

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Also pictured are Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, front row left, South African President Jacob Zuma, second from left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, third from right, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, British Prime Minister Theresa May, middle row left. It is a huge job for the world’s fifth-biggest economy, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Canberra had “got things moving towards having a free trade agreement with the UK”.

China will face 'consequences&#039 if it does not behave itself President Obama talks tough