The Summit has put the issue of development front and center of the global macro policy framework for the first time.
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Sino-Asean expert Xu Liping from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said China’s actions in the South China Sea after the G-20 summit would be proof of whether it was offended by Mr Obama’s decision to talk about the tribunal ruling at a multilateral event.
Official Chinese state media coverage of the meeting between Xi and Obama doesn’t mention any friction between the two leaders on the issue at all, or that the USA objects to Beijing’s position. “No one gave you the right to touch or push anyone around”, one official assisting the White House yelled in Chinese at the security guards, according to pool reports.
The meeting was frequently overshadowed by other concerns and got off to a rocky start Saturday when there was no staircase at the airport for Obama to exit his plane. Rice, one of the highest-ranking officials in U.S. government, seemed less than amused when asked about it by a reporter.
Noting that China and the USA handed over their instruments of joining the Paris Agreement separately to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday in Hangzhou, Xi said the two countries have made important contributions again to address the global challenge of climate change.
In video posted on Twitter, a White House press aide can be seen confronting the official, arguing that the journalists were standing under “our plane, and we’re standing under the wing”.
China was angered when Australia blocked the A$10 billion (US$7.57 billion) sale of the country’s biggest energy grid to Chinese bidders last month. It doesn’t just happen in China – it happens in other countries where we travel.
“[We] hope that we will be able to bring our bilateral relations to a higher level than they are at today”, he said, while also wishing “success” to the new PM’s team in dealing with the “difficult tasks” they face, in apparent reference to Brexit. In that scene, two Chinese officials – one helping the Americans and the other working security – had to be physically separated.
U.S. President Barack Obama deplanes Air Force One upon arrival for the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, on September 3, 2016.
Kerry and Lavrov are in Hangzhou for a meeting of the Group of 20 economies, also attended by President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Obama’s unconventional welcome – and a series of subsequent skirmishes and quarrels between Chinese and USA officials and journalists – were a reminder of the underlying tensions. She said the idea should also be implemented in terms of trade.
He told Obama that China will stick to the direction of opening up and reform, and further facilitate foreign investment access.
French President Francois Hollande says he wants other world leaders to better regulate the global economy to protect workers and the environment.
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“I think it is possible that in the coming days we will have good news about this completely justified request”, Merkel said.
