Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for building a fair and equitable global governance system, while warning against politicizing economic issues, fragmenting the global market and taking protectionist moves, in remarks delivered at the Session II of the 19th G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“We should keep in mind that mankind lives in a community with a shared future, see each other’s development as opportunities rather than challenges, and view each other as partners rather than rivals,” Xi said in the speech.

“In light of the G20’s mandate, we could build greater international consensus in the economic, financial, trade, digital and eco-environmental fields, among others, to improve global governance and promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization,” Xi said. 

In the remarks, Xi stressed the need to improve global economic governance and build a world economy characterized by cooperation, the need to improve global financial governance and build a world economy characterized by stability, and the need to improve global trade governance and build a world economy characterized by openness.

“We should press ahead with reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO), oppose unilateralism and protectionism, restore the normal functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism as soon as possible, include the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement into the WTO legal framework, and reach early consensus on the e-commerce agreement,” Xi said. 

“It is important to avoid politicizing economic issues, avoid fragmenting the global market, and avoid taking protectionist moves in the name of green and low-carbon development,” he said. 

The Chinese president also emphasized the need to improve global digital governance and build a world economy characterized by innovation, saying that “we should step up international governance and cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI), to make sure that AI is for good and for all, not a game of the rich countries and the wealthy.”

Xi also stressed the need to improve global ecological governance and build a world economy characterized by eco-friendliness. “China stands ready to continue to deepen international cooperation with all sides on green infrastructure, green energy, green mining and green transport, and will provide support to developing countries to the best of its ability,” he said. 

Leading multilateralism  

In Rio de Janeiro, the Chinese president’s attendance and remarks at the G20 summit drew widespread attention, with journalists from around the world closely following Xi’s meetings and commending his remarks for promoting multilateral cooperation on addressing global challenges. 

“I think that Xi has set out a really significant international agenda, so he had his eight concrete actions,” Matthew Bishop, a senior lecturer in international politics at the University of Sheffield in the UK, told the Global Times on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. “It seems to me that China is increasingly trying to take a lead when it comes to global multilateralism.” 

In his remarks on Fight Against Hunger and Poverty at Session I of the 19th G20 Summit on Monday, Xi said that China is ready to work with all parties to build a just world of common development and outlined China's eight actions for global development.

Bishop also noted that the G20 Summit has a good agenda on substantial global issues, including Global South unity and fighting poverty. “The thing that I'm really liking about this particular G20 is this kind of sense of Global South unity,” the UK scholar said.

Supporting Global South 

In his remarks at the G20 Summit, Xi stressed China’s support for the Global South. China will always be a member of the Global South, a reliable long-term partner of fellow developing countries, and a doer and go-getter working for the cause of global development. China will go hand in hand with fellow developing countries toward modernization, he said at Session I of the 19th G20 Summit on Monday.

Among the eight actions outlined by Xi, three specifically mentioned the Global South. For example, China will make sure the Global South research center that is being built is fit for purpose, and the 20 billion US dollars of development funds will continue to be put to good use to support developing countries and deepen practical cooperation in areas such as poverty reduction, food security and the digital economy. 

He said China, alongside Brazil, South Africa and the African Union, is proposing an Initiative on International Cooperation in Open Science to help the Global South gain better access to global advances in science, technology and innovation. 
He also said supporting the G20 in carrying out practical cooperation for the benefit of the Global South and using such outcomes as the Roadmap to Increase Investment in Clean Energy in Developing Countries and the High-Level Principles on Bioeconomy to good effect.

Fighting hunger and poverty has become a priority issue at this year’s G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, with the first session of the G20 Summit focusing on the issue and a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty launched, with China having decided to join as a key participant. 

China has made historical achievements in alleviating poverty and can make significant contributions to global poverty alleviation through partnerships with countries like Brazil, according to foreign experts. 

Theo Schunck, executive secretary of the Rio Metropolis Institute, said that the most urgent global challenges today include environmental crises such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, social and economic inequalities, including hunger and poverty, geopolitical tensions and regional conflicts.

“China and Brazil can work together in various ways to address these challenges,” Schunck told the Global Times. 

China’s increasingly critical role in addressing global challenges and promoting common development is also evident on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where local residents, foreign visitors and summit staff showed significant interest in China, its economic progress, and cultural contributions. 

At the G20 media center on Monday, a Portuguese student volunteer at the G20 Summit demonstrated his Chinese language skills to the Global Times. 

“I am fascinated by China and I think China is such a big and important country. The West has a lot of misconceptions toward China, so I want to learn Chinese so I can better understand China,” the volunteer named Rafael told the Global Times, when asked why he is interested in studying Chinese.