THE world will be watching closely as China takes over the Group of 20 (G20) presidency from Turkey on Dec 1. China is already in the global spotlight. But Beijing can expect heightened international scrutiny and interest in the year ahead.

The G20 role gives China an important opportunity to polish its credentials as a global diplomat, political actor and economic leader. If Beijing plays its cards right, the G20 presidency could give a strong boost to China’s international standing and ability to take on a global, proactive and responsible leadership role.

Chinese policymakers will also have to make sure they get their domestic policies right by continuing to work on national economic transformation, including the switch from exports to consumer-driven growth — and implementation of the 13th Five Year Plan.

It will be quite a juggling act and at times it will be uncomfortable. As chair, China will have to lead, consult and coordinate a motley and often discordant group of the world’s top advanced and emerging nations which do not always see eye to eye.

The job means having to stay on course to implement past commitments, push forward on issues which are still pending and react to new and often unpredictable global developments.

Progress on G20’s traditional ‘strong, sustainable and balanced growth’ agenda with its focus on investment, trade and employment will not be easy. With growth slowing in many countries and China’s own stellar growth figures being lowered, the G20 is unlikely to deliver on its promise to lift the group’s GDP by two per cent by 2018.

Governance issues remain a top G20 priority, including reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China will be working to have the renminbi included in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket. In addition, the G20 will be expected to hammer out a roadmap for implementing Agenda 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September.

Coming soon after the Climate Change conference in Paris, expectations will be high that G20 can press ahead on fighting global warming and preventing environmental degradation. The G20’s agreed ‘principles on energy governance collaboration’ will be on the table. Despite repeated commitments to maintaining the multilateral trading system, G20 commitments on trade have failed to inject new life into the World Trade Organization (WTO). China could change this by paying more attention to the multilateral trading system.

Increasingly, the G20 is about more than economics. Cooperation and collaboration will also be the order of the day in tackling global political and security challenges. This will require close contact with the US, Europe and emerging nations but also with Japan which will be chair of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations.

Recent Chinese initiatives such as the One Belt, One Road, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank (NDB Brics) certainly herald the emergence of an innovative and more self-confident economic actor, both within the region and outside it. Beijing’s push to get a quick deal on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement further reinforces China’s economic outreach.

As G20 leader, China can win kudos by seeking synergies between the OBOR, the AIIB and other initiatives such as the World Bank’s Global Infrastructure Facility, the G20’s Global Infrastructure Initiative and similar schemes drawn up by the Asian Development Bank and the Japanese government. The RCEP could be used to help better regionalise Asia’s global production networks and reduce the complex overlap among Asian free trade agreements.

International views on Chinese diplomacy are mixed. Despite President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Washington, Sino-American competition and rivalry, including in the South China Sea, are on the rise. Recent headline-grabbing meetings between China, Japan and Korea have helped tone down earlier tensions but relations between Asia’s economic giants have to be put on a more solid footing. While President Xi Jinping’s milestone meeting with the Taiwanese leader has eased concerns over cross-straits relations, elections in January next year could reverse the trend. Meanwhile, maritime disputes in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam and China and the Philippines are affecting Beijing’s broader relationship with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The G20 format with its numerous meetings and gatherings held during the coming year, could allow Beijing to build a more intense network of economic and diplomatic ties with its neighbours and key partners. Working more closely together on a range of issues should lead to a better understanding of different countries’ interests and priorities, possibly helping to ease some of the recent strains in relations with Asian countries.

China’s global reputation stands to benefit even more. A Chinese-led G20 which is ready and willing to reflect on issues like the worsening refugee crisis, financing for Agenda 2030 on sustainable development, infrastructure development and climate change, for instance, would issue a much-needed wake-up call to the global community.

The G20 may not be the “steering committee” of the world economy as many though it would become. But it still offers China a golden opportunity to demonstrate its coming of age as a global power.

—The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2015

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