World pins hope on China's leadership as it takes over G20 presidency

 Night scenery of Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province. (File photo)

The 2015 Group of Twenty (G20) summit concluded in Antalya, Turkey on Nov.16, 2015. China will host the 2016 G20 summit in the eastern city of Hangzhou, the first time for China to host the summit.

Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime Minister, said on the International Financial Forum that the countries involved should enable G20 to play a greater role despite G20 being imperfect and that China can implement their leadership.

Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada, expressed at an international meeting in October 2015 that things do not necessarily go well with multilateral institutions these days. He hoped that the 2016 G20 Summit will provide an opportunity for the international community to work together in a real partnership.

Miguel Otero-Iglesias, a senior analyst for the European Economy at Elcano Royal Institute, told reporters from the Multimedia Platform of People's Daily that the communiques on realizing sustainable growth and coping with climate change are to be released after each G20 summit, but no further action was taken. Iglesias said that the 2016 G20 Summit will leave a footprint in the history taking into consideration China's capabilities and ambitions.

John Kirton, a co-director of the G20 project at the University of Toronto, believed that the 2016 G20 Summit is expected to help make great progress in global economic governance.

"It will be a success and we have some reasons to believe that," said Yuksel Gormez, a senior economist at the Central Bank of Turkey, in an interview with a reporter from People's Daily. He added that China's ability to mobilize and its perfect execution always leave a deep impression on people across the world and are expected to make a great contribution to the success of the 2016 G20 Summit.

China will take over the G20 presidency on Dec. 1, 2015, and a series of related meetings will be held next year. Many scholars hope that the 2016 G20 summit will make further proposals on building an open world economy.

Harold McGraw III, chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, suggested that the 2016 G20 summit should work for breaking trade tariffs and push forward the development of cross-border trade.

The Belt and Road initiative proposed by China is the most ambitious project in the last few decades and much attention will be paid to infrastructure construction at the 2016 G20 summit.

People from different societies expect further reform in the international financial system and hope to increase the representation and voice of emerging-market economies and developing countries. Gormez believes that China might become an important factor that decides the flow of global capital, and that the new international financial institutions built by China and other countries should be admitted. He argued that it is a trend that developed countries and developing countries participate on an equal footing and make global economic governance decisions together.