Obama shrugged off that incident, too, acknowledging that disagreements over press access often arise with China but contending that they were not emblematic of the US-China relationship. 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.
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At around the same time, Chinese President Xi Jinping was telling his South Korean counterpart, Park Gyun-hye, that China is opposed to the deployment of a powerful US anti-missile system in South Korea.
“We think it’s important that the press have access to the work that we’re doing, that they have the ability to ask questions”, he said.
While Seoul and Washington say the system is intended exclusively to defend against North Korea’s missile threat, Beijing says it will allow the US military to peer deeply into northeastern China. At the same time, a European leader highlighted the conflicts looming over the summit by calling for action on China’s bloated steel industry. It’s part of stirring up Chinese nationalism.
The US and China on Saturday ratified the Paris climate accord, a crucial step towards bringing into force the pact against global warming.
Obama later talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but there was no immediate word on the outcome. However, Obama said Britain will need to explain what the Brexit decision may in fact entail, both for the United Kingdom and Europe.
China rejects criticism of its human rights record, arguing it has lifted millions out of poverty.
EU President Donald Tusk said in Hangzhou at the weekend that Europe was “close to limits” on its ability to accept more refugees and urged the broader worldwide community not to shirk its responsibilities.
Rather than being welcomed with a red carpet staircase, Obama was welcomed with a metal stairway as he alighted from his plane.
President Obama called on reporters “not to over-crank the significance”.
Mr Obama said one reason the airport incident has drawn attention is because the USA had a different attitude towards the press than other countries. Kerry said the US wanted a deal with the best chance for survival. “And we don’t leave our values and ideals behind when we take these trips”.
The tarmac kerfuffle included a shouting match that broke out as White House staffers tried to help American reporters position themselves to film Obama’s arrival in the eastern Chinese city for a G20 summit.
“First things first – the first task (for Britain) is going to be figuring out what Brexit means with respect to Europe, and our first task is making sure we get, first, TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) done and also that we move forward on the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) negotiations in which we’ve invested a lot of time and effort”. And we’ve got a lot of planes, a lot of helicopters, a lot of cars, a lot of guys. “If you are a host country, sometimes it may feel a little bit much”, Obama added.
Prior to the G20 summit, Indonesian President Joko Widodo met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday (02/09) in Hangzhou.
To boost cross-border investment and the world economy, Xi noted that leaders of the 20 major economies pledged to deepen cooperation on tax matters and combat tax evasion.
“We’re also setting the stage so that the next United States administration comes in with a relationship that is on a strong and productive footing”, Mr Obama told Mr Xi.
But an European Union diplomat said that in their communique the leaders would make a strong stand on refugee flows, agreeing that they were a global issue and the burden had to be shared. The officials also reviewed a number of issues of common interest.
At about the same time, Xi was in Hangzhou telling his South Korean counterpart, Park Gyun-hye, that China opposes plans to deploy a US anti-missile system outside South Korea’s capital, Seoul.
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Leaders of the world’s largest economies are meeting for a second and final day at the G20 summit in China.
