Hubei Media Group: The 16th G20 Leaders’ Summit was held in Rome over the past weekend. President Xi Jinping attended the summit and delivered important remarks via video link. He put forward a series of initiatives and proposals and offered China’s solution to a host of global issues such as COVID-19, economy, sustainable development and climate change, receiving worldwide attention. Could you elaborate on China’s initiatives and proposals?
Wang Wenbin: President Xi Jinping attended the 16th G20 Leaders’ Summit and delivered important remarks via video link from October 30 to 31. It was his latest attendance at major multilateral events after the recent general debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the leaders’ summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference. It was also a major diplomatic step China has taken to participate deeply in international economic cooperation and improve global economic governance.
At this critical crossroads of mankind’s history, President Xi Jinping, grasping the major changes unseen in a century, upholding the cause of forging a community with a shared future for mankind, and proceeding from the mandate of the G20, offered a systemic formula pointing out that the international community should work in solidarity to combat COVID-19, take effective measures to promote world economic recovery and adopt long-term policies to improve global governance. This has gathered wide consensus on and injected strong impetus into efforts for inclusive and sustainable global development.
First, gather international consensus to deepen global cooperation against COVID-19. President Xi was the first to propose that vaccines should be made a global public good. On that basis, he put forward a Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative at this summit. It includes measures in six aspects: support joint vaccine R&D with developing countries; provide more vaccines to developing countries; support the World Trade Organization (WTO) in making an early decision on waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines; scale up cross-border trade cooperation in vaccines and related raw and auxiliary materials; advance mutual recognition of vaccines in accordance with the WHO’s Emergency Use Listing; provide financial support for developing countries in accessing vaccines.
Second, address both symptoms and root causes to facilitate a steady world economic recovery. President Xi pointed out that the G20 should play its role as the premier forum for international economic cooperation to encourage major economies to step up macroeconomic policy coordination and avoid negative spillovers on developing countries. We should leverage the important role of infrastructure development in propelling economic growth and work for more fruitful outcomes from high-quality BRI cooperation. President Xi proposed to hold an international forum on resilient and stable industrial and supply chains and welcomed the active participation of G20 members and relevant international organizations to keep global industrial and supply chains secure and stable by joining forces.
Third, seek common development and build a global community with a shared future. President Xi further elaborated on the core people-centered philosophy of the Global Development Initiative he put forward in September this year. He stressed that our mission and objective should be improving people’s welfare, realizing the all-round development of every individual and making global development more equitable, effective and inclusive, so that no country will be left behind. He called on efforts to prioritize development in global macro policy coordination and the G20 agenda, and seek synergy between the Global Development Initiative and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to achieve more robust, green and sound global development.
Fourth, improve digital governance to advance the sound development of the global digital economy. President Xi pointed out that forming exclusive blocs or even drawing ideological lines will only cause barriers and create more obstacles, which will only harm scientific and technological innovation. The G20 should shoulder global responsibilities in the digital era, quicken the development of new types of digital infrastructure, promote deeper integration of digital technologies with the real economy, and help developing countries eliminate the digital divide. President Xi announced that China has decided to apply to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. This reflects China’s constructive attitude of participating actively in international cooperation on digital economy and relevant rules-making, and its firm resolve to commit itself to wider opening-up and alignment with high-standard international rules and criteria.
Fifth, take good care of the planet and build a community of life for man and Nature, President Xi stressed that the G20 needs to uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and push for the full implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Developed countries need to lead by example on emissions reduction, fully accommodate the special difficulties and concerns of developing countries, deliver on their commitments of climate financing, and provide technology, capacity-building and other support for developing countries. These important propositions point out the key to the success of the upcoming COP26 and give a strong boost to the global effort to tackle climate change. President Xi also gave a profound answer to the question of our times on how to hold onto the goals of ecological protection and economic development and how to respond to climate change and ensure living standards, and called on the G20 to step up cooperation in this regard. China has provided its wisdom for countries to explore and realize modernization featuring the harmonious co-existence of man and Nature. This has been widely supported and acclaimed by the international community. The important measures proposed by President Xi, including the "1+N" policy framework for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, demonstrate China’s sense of responsibility in honoring its words with concrete actions as a major country. They have injected robust positive energy to global efforts in addressing climate change.
President Xi's proposition has been warmly received and echoed by many countries and international organizations including the UN. The shared belief is that his remarks will help galvanize global efforts, bring global development to a new stage that is balanced, coordinated and inclusive, and accelerate implementation of the 2030 SDGs. China will continue to deeply participate in G20 cooperation, uphold openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, practice true multilateralism, and make unremitting efforts for and new contributions to advancing global solidarity against COVID-19, promoting world economic recovery and development, improving global economic governance and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Bloomberg: Can you tell us if the Chinese leader will attend COP26? If so, what will be the format?
Wang Wenbin: We will release information on China's attendance at COP26 in due course. Please stay tuned.
MASTV: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Rome the other day. What is China's comment on this meeting? What is your expectation for China-US relations going forward?
Wang Wenbin: You may refer to the readout on the meeting released by the Chinese side. I would just like to stress the following points.
State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that bilateral relations between China and the US in the past few years have suffered an all-round impact due to the wrong China policy pursued by the US. This is not in line with the interests of the peoples of the two countries, the expectations of the international community, or the development trend of the times. China has voiced its clear opposition.
The important experience accumulated over the past four decades since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries is that both China and the US stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. The im