Still, as Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended an economic summit, the leaders were under pressure to push the negotiations beyond the sticking points that have thus far prevented a deal. Their talks are taking place against a background of a world economy threatened by rising protectionism and risks of high leverage.
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Leaders of G20 members, guest countries and worldwide organisations exchanged views on topics including more effective global economic and financial governance, robust worldwide trade and investment, inclusive and interconnected development on September 4 and 5. Britain is wrestling with the effects of its June vote to leave the EU.
Overshadowing the summit were concerns there is a deepening hostility among broad sections of the world’s population to the policies of the past eight years that have resulted in ever-worsening living standards and the growth of social inequality to historically unprecedented levels.
“Growth drivers from the previous round of technological progress are gradually fading, while a new round of technological and industrial revolution has yet to gain momentum”, he said.
“We have had some productive conversations about what a real cessation of hostilities would look like”, US President Barack Obama said after meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Xi welcomed each to the summit with a handshake and an extended one with Obama, with both men smiling.
He was echoed by Armen Oganesyan, chief editor of the global affairs magazine Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizhn, who said that in Hangzhou, “the G20 countries drew a thick line under all speculations about the necessity of isolating Russian Federation”. In a short conversation, Canadian ambassador Guy Saint-Jacque told me he “has never seen so many ministerial meetings” in preparing for the global leaders’ conference.
China, a first time host of the summit, is the world’s second largest economy but it is still rated a developing country with at least 50 million of her own citizens living below the poverty line. They called for cooperation to reduce tax avoidance.
Trump said in his talk that he “guaranteed it was built in China; it wasn’t built here, okay?”
The US president, on his part, said easing the humanitarian situation in Syria would pave the way for a political solution, adding that a settlement of the crisis would include all parties directly or indirectly involved in the conflict. “This entails the transfer of proper technologies from other countries and China can provide a lot of useful technologies and experiences”, it said. “But strategically, they are not interested in the Syrian crisis being resolved in the nearest future”, he said.
Global economic growth has been shrinking and planned forecasts by the International Monetary Fund predict a 3.1% GDP growth in 2016, a year after China’s own growth fell from double digits in 20 years to below 7%.
In an effort to shore up public support for trade, the leaders promised “inclusive growth” to spread the benefits to people who have been left behind by wrenching change.
“Who is he?”, the fiery new President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, asked Monday at a news conference, referring to Obama.
India warded off pressure from China and the USA at the G20 summit in Hangzhou when the U.S. and China tried to set 2016 as a deadline to ratify the climate deal after they both ratified the pact and handed over the instruments to the UN.
At the end of the tightly choreographed talks, held in a cavernous complex in a largely deserted city, Xi produced resolutions on combatting industrial overcapacity – particularly in the sclerotic steel sector – and boosting worldwide cooperation on corporate taxation.
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.
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Two of the most powerful men in the world came face to face at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, and gave a whole new meaning to the phrase Cold War – if this iconic photograph is anything to go by.
