Group of Twenty (G 20)

The international economic cooperation forum composed of the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, Russia, China, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Korea and the European Union, a forum which aims to promote open and constructive discussions and cooperation between developed countries and emerging market countries, so as to promote international financial stability, reform of the international financial system and sustainable growth of the world economy.The idea of the G20 was originally put forward by the finance ministers meeting of the G7 in June 1999.

In September of the same year, the G-8 finance ministers formally launched the establishment of the G20 in Berlin, Germany, as a mechanism for informal dialogue within the framework of the Bretton Woods system. It consists of former members of the Group of eight and 12 other important economies, and its members include 19 countries and the European Union. The forum, which was initially attended by finance ministers and central bank governors, aims to expand the voice in the field of international economic and monetary policy so that major developed, emerging and developing countries can participate. to facilitate the stability of the international financial and monetary system and prevent the recurrence of disasters such as the Asian financial crisis. After the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, crisis response and the reform of the international financial system have further become the focus of global attention. Under this background, the G20 summit came into being and held its first summit in Washington that year.

The G20 mainly operates in the form of summits and meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors, vice-ministerial meetings and related seminars, which are usually held once a year. Balance, equality and effectiveness are the main characteristics of the G20. Its composition takes into account the balance between developed and developing countries and the balance between different regions, covering a wide range and representativeness; the population of the G20 accounts for about two-thirds of the world's population, the land area accounts for about 60% of the world, the gross domestic product accounts for about 85% to 90% of the world’s GDP, and the trade volume accounts for about three quarters of the world’s total.

The group operates on the principle of consensus, and emerging market countries and developed countries exchange views on international economic and financial affairs on the basis of relative equality. The effectiveness is that over the past decade, the group has adopted a series of decisions to play an important role in dealing with the financial crisis, promoting the recovery of the world economy and promoting the reform of the international financial and monetary system, and solved some problems to varying degrees. For example, uniform standards have been established in the areas of transparent fiscal policy, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing, which has led to an increase in the voting rights of emerging market countries such as China in institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and strengthened the supervision of international financial markets, especially transnational financial institutions.

The establishment of the G20 is also an important mechanism and landmark event in the transformation of global governance from “western governance” to “western and non-western co-governance”. With the rise of the influence of the G20, the position of the G7 has obviously weakened, and its function of coordinating the world economy is gradually being replaced by the G20.

China is a founding and major member of the G20 and held the rotating presidency in 2005 and 2016. China put forward a series of important propositions at this forum, including: to respect the diversity of development models and the development path chosen by all countries according to their own national conditions; to strengthen the dialogue and coordination of macroeconomic policies of various countries, to promote the balanced and orderly development of the world economy, to improve the international economic and trade system and rules, to promote the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, and to help developing countries speed up development.

These propositions have won the approval of the vast number of emerging market countries, developing countries and some developed countries. The eleventh summit held in Hangzhou in September 2016 is the first group summit held by China. With the strong coordination of China and the joint efforts of the participating countries, the Hangzhou Summit has achieved a series of major achievements in global sustainable development: agreeing to play an exemplary role in implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and promoting the entry into force of the “Paris Agreement” as soon as possible. Reached consensus on the implementation of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” adopted at the 2015 United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development, materialized and operationalized the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, and adopted the “G20 Agenda for Deepening Structural Reform”, “enhancing environmental sustainability” is identified as a priority area for structural reform. Green finance was included in the G20 communique for the first time, and a series of important measures to promote the development of green finance were put forward.

China's prominent position in the G-20 is the embodiment and result of the further improvement of China's international influence, appeal and shaping power.