China can set an example by putting its G20 call for action into practice
Leading the way on structural reform, cutting overcapacity and promoting innovation is the best way for President Xi Jinping to show China’s leading role in global governance
Summits of the Group of 20 major world economies always risk cementing the reputation of the G20 as a talk shop. After China’s first summit, the question is whether world leaders can rise to the challenge thrown down by host President Xi Jinping to become an action team that implements initiatives and sheds that tame label. Xi tried to rally joint policy action on structural reform and innovation. “Facts have told us that the old road of simply relying on fiscal and monetary policy is a dead end,” he said.
Having used the summit to put its stamp on global governance, China now has an opportunity to lead by example, because structural reform and innovation are key to Xi’s domestic strategy for putting China, the main engine of the global economy, on a path to sustainable growth. It remains to be seen if other countries will follow, given that they have hedged their commitment by stipulating that the choice and design of structural reforms are to be consistent with countries’ specific economic conditions.