President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders at the two-day meeting called for efforts to defend free trade in the face of economic anxiety that has fueled demands in the United States and Europe to protect local industry.
Advertisement
North Korea added to the drama on Monday with the firing of three ballistic missiles off its east coast.
Pyongyang in the past has tested missiles at sensitive moments to draw attention to its military might. But Monday’s launch risks embarrassing its main ally Beijing, which has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure a smooth summit in Hangzhou.
Mrs May accepted an invitation to visit China next year. Their discussion came hours after top US and Russian diplomats failed to seal a deal aimed at providing access to humanitarian aid for thousands of civilians in the war-torn country.
At the press conference Monday, Obama also addressed concerns about cybersecurity, acknowledging that the USA has “had problems with cyber intrusions” from Russian Federation and other countries.
The meeting went on “longer than planned” but the two leaders were unable to thrash out an agreement to stop the fighting in Syria.
He added that “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”, according to Reuters, and Xi asked the G20 leaders to be an “action team, instead of a talk shop”. Many leaders are already looking ahead to January, when either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump assumes the business of state.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party was relegated to third place behind an anti-immigrant party in a regional election on Sunday.
“Obviously it has something to do with the refugee question”.
Yesterday, Xi held talks with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and said he hoped Australia would continue to provide a fair, transparent and predictable policy environment for foreign investors.
China has accused Australia of bowing to protectionist sentiment in blocking the bid for Ausgrid, as well as an earlier one by a China-led consortium to buy cattle company Kidman & Co.
[Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP Images] More serious than these, however, are the economic uncertainties G20 Summit delegates have been tasked to wrestle with, which, as Joe McDonald of The Associated Press aptly put it, include “pressure to raise trade barriers… amid sluggish global growth and disputes over China’s steel exports and Apple’s Irish tax bill”.
“We need to protect the interests of the members of the European Union that want to stay together, not the one which wants to leave”, said Tusk. But it will be a long time before China will reap any benefit, because the G20 gave its members until 2018 to implement the pledge. There was no rolling staircase provided for Air Force One when it landed and Obama had to disembark from an exit in the plane’s belly. The president used an alternative exit, but quarrels with Chinese officials broke out on the tarmac and at other venues over access by US officials and the travelling press.
Obama also addressed a domestic controversy over NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the playing of the national anthem in protest of the treatment of minorities in the United States.
Advertisement
Obama’s visit started on a high note, with the U.S and China consummating their unlikely partnership on climate change by announcing they were both entering the global emissions-cutting deal reached a year ago in Paris.
