Building International Consensus for a Better Future – State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi Talks about President Xi Jinping's Attendance at the 16th G20 Summit

Gather international consensus and create a better future

—State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on President Xi Jinping's attendance at the G20

Sixteenth Leaders' Summit

From October 30 to 31, 2021, President Xi Jinping attended the 16th G20 Summit by video and delivered an important speech entitled "Acting together for a better future". This is President Xi Jinping's second attendance at an important multilateral event following his recent intensive attendance at the general debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the 15th Summit of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Global Conference on Sustainable Transport, and is a major diplomatic action for China to deeply participate in international economic cooperation and promote the improvement of global economic governance.

At present, the covid-19 epidemic has fluctuated repeatedly, the world economy has recovered fragilely, the challenges of climate change are prominent, and international and regional hotspots are intertwined, and the world has entered a new round of turbulent adjustment period. At the critical crossroads of human history, President Xi Jinping, based on the unprecedented changes in a century, held high the banner of building a community with a shared future for mankind, combined with the mission and responsibility of the G20, systematically put forward the correct direction for the international community to unite to defeat the epidemic, feasible measures to revitalize the world economy, and improve long-term strategies for global governance, condensing broad consensus and injecting strong impetus into the global realization of inclusive and sustainable development, fully demonstrating the foresight and responsibility of the leaders of major countries.

I. Consolidate international consensus and promote deepening global anti-epidemic cooperation. The covid-19 pandemic has been delayed for nearly two years, the virus continues to mutate, and the world is facing many difficulties in winning the battle against the epidemic. In particular, the immunization gap between developed and developing countries is still widening, which not only delays the process of global victory over the epidemic, but also serious injustice to the people of the vast number of developing countries. President Xi Jinping was the first to propose that the COVID-19 vaccine should become a global public good, and made a "China Commitment" to promote the fair and accessible vaccines. China has taken a series of solid actions to implement this solemn commitment, and has provided more than 1.6 billion doses of vaccines to the world so far, and will provide more than 2 billion doses to the outside world throughout the year, making it the country with the largest number of vaccines in the world and making an important contribution to building a global immunization defense line.

At the summit, President Xi Jinping solemnly put forward the "Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative", including supporting joint research and development with developing countries, increasing the provision of vaccines to developing countries, supporting the World Trade Organization to make an early decision on the exemption of vaccine intellectual property rights, strengthening cross-border trade cooperation in vaccines and raw and excipients, promoting mutual recognition of vaccines in accordance with the World Health Organization's list of emergency use of vaccines, and providing financial support for developing countries to obtain vaccines. This initiative fully reflects China's firm will to work together with other countries in the world to overcome difficulties, and will vigorously promote international vaccine cooperation and inject confidence and impetus into the early victory over the epidemic. If the G20 brings together the world's major economies and vaccine-producing countries, if we can work together to implement this initiative, implement the consensus on vaccines as a global public good, and take a step forward in international cooperation on vaccines, it will effectively promote global vaccine accessibility and equitable distribution, and make greater contributions to the early defeat of the virus for mankind.

Second, adhere to the symptoms and root causes, and promote the stable recovery of the world economy. The epidemic has had a complex and profound impact on the world economy and the pattern of global economic governance. Rising inflation, rising commodity prices, poor industrial chain supply chain and other factors intertwined and superimposed, the momentum of world economic recovery has weakened, downside risks and uncertainties have risen significantly, and international concerns have intensified. In view of the complex impact of the epidemic on the world economy, President Xi Jinping pointed out that the G20 should play the role of the main forum for international economic cooperation, promote the strengthening of macroeconomic policy coordination among major economies around the world, and avoid negative spillover effects on developing countries. It is necessary to give full play to the important driving role of infrastructure construction in economic growth and promote the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" to achieve more fruitful results. President Xi Jinping also announced at the meeting that he would hold an international forum on industrial chain supply chain resilience and stability, inviting G20 members and relevant international organizations to participate together, bringing together a strong joint force to maintain the security and stability of the global industrial chain supply chain.

A more fair, just and reasonable global economic governance system is a powerful guarantee for the world economy to return to the growth track and achieve medium- and long-term stable development. President Xi Jinping's speech is not only based on the present, but also focuses on the long term, clearly pointing out that while taking measures to cope with the impact of the epidemic, we must further improve the global economic system and rules to make up for the increasingly prominent governance deficit. It is necessary to safeguard the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization as the core, provide political guidance for the reform of the World Trade Organization, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries and the space for development. It is necessary to implement the process of the IMF share inspection, the issuance of special drawing rights, and the capital increase of the International Development Association, and continuously expand the resources and discourse power of developing countries.

President Xi Jinping also announced that China is willing to lend special drawing rights to low-income countries seriously affected by the epidemic, which once again reflects China's consistent position of sharing the same boat with the vast number of developing countries and overcoming difficulties together, and will provide strong support for developing countries to concentrate resources on fighting the epidemic and restoring their economies.

Third, advocate common development and promote the construction of a global development community. The epidemic has brought multiple crises to the international community, swallowing up the achievements of global poverty reduction in the past 10 years, the "development gap" between the north and the south has continued to widen, and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is facing unprecedented challenges.

Development is the general key to solving all problems and is also the aspiration of the people of all countries. In September this year, President Xi Jinping launched the Global Development Initiative at the United Nations. At the Rome Summit, President Xi Jinping further elaborated on the people-centered core concept of the Global Development Initiative, emphasizing the need to improve people's well-being and achieve all-round human development as the starting point and foothold, enhance the fairness, effectiveness and inclusiveness of global development, and leave no country behind. President Xi Jinping has made a clear call for development cooperation to be placed in a prominent position in global macroeconomic policy coordination and the G20 agenda, and actively promoted the in-depth docking of the Global Development Initiative with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to help achieve stronger, greener and healthier global development.

President Xi Jinping's important propositions have been welcomed and responded to by many countries and international institutions such as the United Nations, believing that the Global Development Initiative has drawn a blueprint for cooperation for the international community to implement the 2030 Agenda and promote economic recovery, which is highly consistent with the purpose and key direction of the G20 to promote global development, and is conducive to bringing together global synergy, promoting global development to a new stage of balance, coordination and inclusiveness, and accelerating the realization of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Fourth, improve digital governance and promote the healthy development of the global digital economy. A new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation has profoundly reshaped human society, the Internet, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies have accelerated innovation, and new technologies and new formats have flourished under the background of the epidemic. At the same time, individual countries have vigorously engaged in scientific and technological "high walls" and technological blockades, which have undermined the atmosphere of international innovation and cooperation and hindered the normal development of the digital economy. In this regard, President Xi Jinping stressed that artificially engaging in "small circles" and even drawing ideological lines will only create estrangement and increase obstacles, which will do a lot of harm to scientific and technological innovation. The G20 should share global responsibilities in the digital age, accelerate the construction of new digital infrastructure, promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, and help developing countries cross the "digital divide".

The lack of rules is a prominent challenge in the field of global digital governance. President Xi Jinping announced at the meeting that China has decided to apply for membership in the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. This demonstrates China's constructive posture of actively participating in international cooperation in the digital economy and related rule-making, and also reflects China's firm determination to expand opening up and connect with high-level international rules and standards. China's digital economy scale is at the forefront of the world, and China's accession to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement will not only provide a broad market for all members and tighten the bonds of international cooperation in the digital economy, but also significantly enhance the influence of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement in the Asia-Pacific region and the world, and will make China's contribution to maintaining and improving the global digital governance mechanism and tapping new momentum for global economic growth. China has also previously proposed the Global Data Security Initiative, on the basis of which we are willing to explore the formulation of international rules for digital governance that reflect the wishes of all parties and respect the interests of all parties, and actively create an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory digital development environment.

Fifth, care for the earth's homeland and promote the construction of a community of human and natural life. The summit coincided with the eve of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and President Xi Jinping clearly pointed out the principles and directions of international climate cooperation and global climate governance, and stressed that the G20 should uphold the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" to promote the full implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Developed countries should set an example on the issue of emission reduction, fully take into account the special difficulties and concerns of developing countries, implement climate finance commitments, and provide support to developing countries in terms of technology and capacity building. These important ideas point to the success of the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and give a strong impetus to the joint efforts of the international community to address climate change.

Countries, especially the vast number of developing countries, must not only meet the challenges of climate change, but also shoulder the important mission of promoting industrialization, improving people's livelihood and well-being, and achieving development. Recently, the volatility of the international energy market has intensified, which has brought a direct impact on the economic development of various countries and the social and people's livelihood. This fully shows that the response to climate change is inseparable from economic development, energy security and social livelihood. At the summit, President Xi Jinping elaborated in depth on the important propositions of coordinating environmental protection and economic development, taking into account the response to climate change and ensuring people's livelihood, profoundly answered the issue of the times on how to safeguard the two bottom lines of ecology and development, called on the G20 to strengthen cooperation in this regard, and provided Chinese wisdom for all countries to explore and realize the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, which won widespread support and appreciation from the international community.

As the largest developing country, China attaches great importance to the construction of ecological civilization and has always been a participant, contributor and leader in the global response to climate change. From last year's G20 Riyadh Summit on "Protecting the Earth" and the "Climate Ambition Summit" to the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity this year, President Xi Jinping has consistently promoted the construction of a community of human and natural life from the perspective of sustainable development of mankind, reiterating that China will strive to achieve carbon dioxide peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. This means that China, as the world's largest developing country, will complete the world's largest reduction in carbon emission intensity in the shortest possible time. At the Rome Summit, President Xi Jinping proposed important measures such as China's construction of a carbon peak and carbon neutral "1 + N" policy system, demonstrating China's responsibility as a big country that must do what it says and does, and injects strong positive energy into the global response to climate change.

The tide rises in the east, and the wind is hanging in the sails. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy, we will adhere to openness, inclusiveness, win-win cooperation, practice true multilateralism, deeply participate in G20 cooperation, make new contributions to global solidarity against the epidemic, promote world economic recovery and development, and improve global economic governance, and make unremitting efforts to promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.