While there are tensions between China and the US over issues ranging from the Korean peninsula to the South China Sea, both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Obama intend to use the G20 to resolve key problems and improve bilateral ties.
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Security was extremely tight in Hangzhou, with parts of the city of 9 million people turned into a virtual ghost town as China seeks to ensure that the G20 summit stays incident-free.
Obama and his Russian counterpart Putin met on Monday as talks between their governments on ending violence in Syria ended without an agreement.
U.S. President Barack Obama, front row third from left, Chinese President Xi Jinping, second from right, and other leaders wave as they pose for a group photo session for the G-20 Summit held at the Hangzhou International Expo Center in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016.
To some in Obama’s delegation, it was reminiscent of the rough treatment he received on his first trip to China, in 2009.
Addressing core issues on Syria and Ukraine, the two heads of state had a lengthy exchange of views, a senior administration official told ABC News.
“That’s part of our job”, President Barack Obama said of any tensions in his visit to China.
US President Barack Obama is welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Hangzhou.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Chinese officials got into a confrontation with American journalists and photographers who were trying to take up positions to capture Obama’s arrival.
Speaking at a news conference in China, Obama said there are some significant sticking points in the negotiations over creating a US and Russian military partnership that would focus firepower on “common enemies” in Syria.
“It was mainly the two of us who had the discussion, going into detail”. “It is a very complicated piece of business”, Obama told reporters.
But the USA leader said the tensions were the result of different approaches to the media, as well as the sheer scale of the United States operation when he travels.
The president also said tensions always arrived when the White House negotiates how much access the USA press gets when it comes to accessing leaders overseas, Fox News reported.
Obama added that now the gaps have not been closed in negotiations between Russiaand the USA in a way that they think would “actually work”.
Calls for a truce have grown more urgent as Syrian national forces fight rebel troops in Aleppo.
Successive rounds of global negotiations have failed to end a conflict that has left more than 290,000 people dead and forced millions to flee, a key contributor to migrant flows into Europe. Amid the chaos, IS has emerged as a global terror threat. Kerry and Lavrov were consulting with their governments before talks resume on Monday. The package would include provisions so aid can reach besieged areas of Syria and measures to prevent Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government from bombing areas where USA -backed rebels are operating.
On other fronts, the United States tried but failed to finalise a deal with Russian Federation for a ceasefire in Syria on the sidelines of the summit.
Russian Federation and the US are fighting ISIS in Syria, though a civil war in the country has complicated those efforts.
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Negotiators on both sides have spent weeks poring over maps of potential areas where opposition groups operate and where Assad’s forces would be prohibited from launching airstrikes. The emerging deal is expected to also include provisions to ensure aid can reach besieged areas of Syria and steps to prevent Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government from bombing areas where USA -backed rebels are operating.
