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China raises financial status at G20

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-04 14:49

LONG ROAD TO REFORM

Be it "a turning point," as US President Barack Obama stated, or "a new world order," as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed, the G20 summit was a major step in reshaping the global financial system, but there was still far to go, Chinese economists said.

"China should seek to expand its IMF quota and voting rights further after the summit. Although the statement give a timetable for reform, it remains unclear whether the goal can be achieved because that would affect the interests of the United States and the European Union," said Mei Xinyu, a researcher at China's Ministry of Commerce.

Full coverage:  G20 Financial Summit Related readings:  China: G20 summit boosts confidence  G20 London Summit  G20 leaders eye more IMF funds, tighter rules  G20 to give $1 trillion to IMF, World Bank

The G20 statement reads in part: "We commit to implementing the package of IMF quota and voice reforms agreed in April 2009 and call on the IMF to complete the next review of quotas by January 2011."

"On the one hand, China could count on the IMF restructuring, and on the other hand, it may start again somewhere else. For instance, it can push forward the establishment of the 120-billion-US-dollar reserve pool agreed by several East Asian countries," Mei said.

Leaders of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea agreed last month to speed up the creation of a foreign-exchange reserve pool of 120 billion US dollars to address liquidity shortages.

Mei described the pool as an "Asian Monetary Fund," saying it could partly replace the IMF in Asia and help increase use of the Chinese currency in international trade.

Another government economist, Wang Xiaoguang, said the agreement served as a foundation for more concrete policies to tackle the global downturn and this would be good for global stability and China's own economic recovery.

Wang added that it was unrealistic to change the global financial order immediately, because it would cause conflicts among major economies.

"They will rework the current system rather than introduce a new one," he said.

Zhuang Jian, an economist at the Asian Development Bank, said the biggest challenge was how to implement those commitments. China should closely monitor the implementation of the agreement and decide whether its short-term objectives could be realized.

"China's appeals will be discussed after the summit," he said, referring to financial market reform and the position of emerging countries in the international financial system.

"I think the country will have a bigger say in the global financial system. But the G20 summit is just a forum, and if the global economy worsens, the agreement might end up as nothing more than words," he said.

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