What role will China play in the G20 summit?

BEIJING -- As a major emerging market, what role will China play in trying to salvage the global economy during the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit?

Zhao Xijun, finance professor at the Renmin University of China, suggested that emerging economies including China, India, Brazil and Russia might take a different stand from developed economies.

To a larger extent, polar positions are forming across the world when it comes to collaborating on problem solving, said Zhao. Those positions reflect changes in global economic power.

The G20 summit, scheduled for April 1-2 in Britain, will be the second time since last November's G20 summit in Washington that leaders from the developing and developed world sit at the same table to find a solution for struggling economy.

EMERGING INFLUENCE

"As one of the most important countries in G20, China should play an active role in the London summit," said Du Dawei, director of the China Bureau of the World Bank.

Concerted efforts in the global fight against the crisis, especially the huge stimulus plans launched by China and the United States, are a decisive factor in facilitating a reversal of the economic downturn, Du said.

Though the World Bank has tuned down its forecast of China's economic growth to 6.5 percent in 2009, the figure remains outstanding compared to other countries.

China's economy received less damage than other major economies from the crisis, Du said. With two trillion US dollars worth of foreign exchange reserves in hand, China is under the spotlight of the international community, which has high expectations regarding how much contribution China could make towards helping the world weather the current situation.

"Amid the financial crisis, almost every economic stimulus plan launched by China is in the global spotlight. Only the United States could rival it in the extent of attention received, which exemplifies China's place in the fight against the global problem, " said Yuan Gangming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank.

Though severely damaged by the financial storm, the condition of the global real economy is somewhat better-off compared with the depression era of the 1930s. The key reason is that emerging economies contributed greatly to boost sustainable global growth, said Yuan.

China managed to grow by 9 percent and India by about 6 percent last year.

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