President Xi’s G20 message offers lessons in leadership

Chinese President Xi Jinpingattends a press conference after the 11th summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

The G20 agenda was highlighted by the host nation's President, Xi Jinping. In his speech, delivered to the leaders of the 20 biggest economies in the world, he called for equality and unity: "All countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, must treat each other as equals. We need to help each other achieve sound development as we work to ensure our own development."

China contributes a lot to establishing the balance in the world and helping other developing countries by strengthening mutual economic and political ties. For example, today China is the largest trading partner of emerging countries like Russia, Brazil and India. The One Belt and One Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank(AIIB), with more and more countries willing to participate, also contribute to global welfare.

Innovation is another important theme that the president put forward in his speech. "Innovation holds the key to fundamentally unleashing the growth potential," he said. China is actively investing in high-tech sector development. The parallel to the USA's Silicon Valley is in Beijng’s Zhongguancun. China’s portion of global R&D jumped from 2.2 percent in 2000 to 14.5 percent in 2011.

The path of world economic development shows that openness brings progress and isolation leads to backwardness. To repeat the beggar-thy-neighbor approach will not help any country get out of the crisis of recession. It only narrows the space for common development in the world economy and will lead to a "lose-lose scenario", President Xi told the G20 leaders.

I think China poses a good example of how relationships with a neighbor should be built. China and Russia share the historic past and nowadays their mutual bonds are stronger than ever. China and Russia cooperate in many ways: agriculture, natural resources, infrastructure and technology, for example. This summit is also bound to bring more cooperation deals between the two countries.

President Xi stressed that actions speak louder than words. Summing up his speech, it is clear that what he is saying is what is being done. China has a lot to offer the world, and cooperation between the countries is needed to develop the potential to its fullest.