China's President Xi Jinping delivers his closing statement for the G20 Summit in Hangzhou on September 5, 2016. World leaders are gathering in Hangzhou for the 11th G20 Leaders Summit from September 4 to 5. / AFP PHOTO / Johannes EISELE
HANGZHOU: The world’s leading economies spoke out against a return to protectionism and defended the unfashionable concepts of free trade and globalisation Monday, warning the listless global economy needs an urgent reboot.
The G20 summit took place in China as rising populist sentiment puts them under pressure to sidestep difficult commitments, and with a stumbling push for a Syria ceasefire and Asia’s territorial disputes intruding on the agenda.
”We have agreed... to support the multilateral trade system and oppose protectionism,” said China’s President Xi Jinping after hosting the gathering in the scenic eastern city of Hangzhou.
”G20 leaders all agreed that the risks and challenges facing the world economy make it crucial to maintain a peaceful and stable international environment.”
At the end of the tightly choreographed talks, held in an imposing hall in a largely deserted city, Xi produced resolutions on combatting industrial overcapacity and boosting international cooperation on corporate taxation.
Leaders also turned to the global refugee and migrant crisis, the White House said, calling for “global efforts in addressing the root causes and effects”, including providing support for refugees and their host countries.
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 international community not to shirk its responsibilities.
Syria, the source of many of those migrants, was one of the geopolitical issues that swirled around the gathering.
The US and Russia tried and failed to strike a deal on stemming the violence in the disastrous five-year conflict, even as a string of bomb attacks hit across the country, underlining the urgency of the task.
”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.
But Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei could not bridge the divide despite two rounds of diplomacy, and left with only an agreement to meet again in coming days.
”I believe that we are on the right track and could, at least for some period of time, agree to carry out mutual energetic attempts to make the situation in Syria more healthy,” Putin said.
Troublespots
China saw the summit as a showcase for its global leadership credentials, but the Asian giant’s geopolitical issues flared during the gathering.
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, South Korea said, in a show of force that collided with the summit and comes a fortnight after it test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
China is North Korea’s main patron and protector but has been either unwilling or unable to rein in its nuclear and missile ambitions that have sent tensions soaring across East Asia and beyond.
There was better news though on another perennial faultline, with Xi and Japan’s Shinzo Abe seeking to reset their countries’ vexed relationship at their first meeting in over a year.
Abe called China an “important friend” and Xi suggested they put their troubles behind them, in a sharp departure in tone for the pair which have been at loggerheads over territorial disputes and historical animosity.
The Group of 20 leading developed and emerging economies represents 85% of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of its population, and Beijing invested heavily in the high-profile event.
It micromanaged every detail, virtually emptying the host city and imposing tight controls on visiting delegations and the press in the hopes of avoiding missteps -- measures that backfired at times including a shouting match with White House officials on the airport tarmac which captured headlines.
Populism swirls
But the talks took place amid a perception that the global economic order exemplified by the G20 is not working for ordinary people.
The International Monetary Fund’s Christine Lagarde conceded that globalisation “has to benefit all, not a few”, but said that the fruits of a connected world were severely undersold.
”That story of benefits of trade, the improvement of productivity, the improvement of choices, the way in which trade has lifted so many people out of poverty,” she said.
There was “a determination around the room to better identify the benefits of trade in order to respond to the easy populist backlash against globalisation”.
But most leaders, alive to the public mood, sounded a note of regret that so many had been left behind in the race for growth.
The world must “do more to ensure that working people really benefit from the opportunities created by free trade,” Britain’s new Prime Minister Theresa May said as she she worked overtime to start shaping her country’s post-EU access to world markets. - AFP
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