US President Barack Obama speaks during a press conference following the conclusion of the G20 summit in Hangzhou on September 5, 2016.
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BrexitNew British leader Theresa May came on her first prime ministerial visit to China in hopes of shaping her country’s post-EU access to world markets, but faced a Japanese warning over the fallout from Brexit while the U.S. said London was not its priority.
A second day of talks in China between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, ended Monday without a deal to announce.
President Barack Obama said Monday “gaps in trust” between the us and Russian Federation are keeping the two countries from reaching a military agreement.
Kerry and Lavrov met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the eastern city of Hangzhou.
Notwithstanding Mr. Obama’s disappearing dream of securing full global support for the Paris Agreement before his second term ends, a symbolic show of solidarity towards this goal in the form of the US and China ratifying the Agreement last week failed to produce any dramatic commitments in Hangzhou.
But beyond the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda, the two powers have conflicting views about who fits in that category – as well as a deep and mutual distrust that the other party will hold up its end of the bargain.
North Korea fired off three ballistic missiles as the summit concluded, underscoring its willingness to take aggressive steps and assert itself in the region.
Discussions were dominated by talk of the world economy.
Speaking at the opening session, the Chinese president said that the global economy has arrived “at a crucial juncture” in the face of slow demand, volatile financial markets and feeble trade and investment.
“There are hard issues between Japan and China, and because of that, it is important that the leaders exchange honest opinions and make improvements”, said Tokyo’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga.
Xi told South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye that Beijing opposed the United States deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in her country.
“We are determined to break a new path for growth to inject new dynamism into the world economy”, Xi said.
“Globalization is not only positive, it can also engender inequalities between different groups, different populations”, Germany’s Angela Merkel told reporters on her arrival in Hangzhou.
Then there’s Britain’s decision to exit the European Union, putting $1.3 trillion worth of global trade at stake.
From the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, Theresa May said on Sunday that the British economy is likely to suffer as a outcome of leaving the EU.
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Advocating free and open trade, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a gathering that he wants to reaffirm securing freedom of navigation, according to a Japanese official, apparently referring to the South China Sea where China’s increasing military activities have raised tensions with neighboring smaller Asian countries.
