High hopes pinned on Xi's addressing G20, APEC

With President Xi Jinping leaving Beijing on Saturday to attend the Group of 20?Summit and APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, officials and observers highly anticipated his speeches on China's philosophy for maintaining growth and on the chilly world economy.

From Saturday to Monday, Xi will attend a range of meetings in Antalya, Turkey, and then embark for the APEC meetings in Manila, Philippines, from Tuesday to Thursday.

Before the G20 summit, the leaders of BRICS economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — will hold an informal meeting, during which Xi will deliver a speech on greater cooperation among the five nations.

When addressing the G20 summit, Xi will touch on the world economy and cooperation on tapping new impetus for growth, and he will introduce China's policies and measures of deepening reforms and establishing a new system for opening the economy, Vice-Foreign Minister Li Baodong told a news conference earlier in the week.

Wang Shouwen, assistant minister of commerce, said, "It is now a vital period for the G20 to transfer from the mechanism of crisis response to long-term economic governance".

Yao Zhongzhi, deputy director of the Institute of World Economy and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that some doubting voices in the world had asked whether the G20 mechanism should continue to exist. But he said he believes the world "needs an organ and platform for global governance".

The world economy is still far from a complete recovery, and Europe, Japan and the United States have not completely recovered from the impact of the financial crisis, Yao said.

Zhu Guangyao, vice-minister of finance, said that China actively supports the "inclusiveness, implementation and investment" proposed by Turkey.

Wang Wen, the executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China, said that since China will chair the G20 summit next year, "the hosting in itself is a perfect chance for China to better get integrated into the world and make it better".

In Manila, Xi will attend and address the APEC CEO meeting, and he will attend the APEC Business Advisory Council Dialogue, the leaders' welcome banquet, as well as the Economic Leaders' Meeting and a luncheon.

Xi is expected to explain China's vision on Asia-Pacific cooperation and discuss the implementation of the outcomes of the APEC meeting in Beijing last year, said Li Baodong.