On the eve of U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G-20 Summit later this week, Beijing recently signaled how it would approach trade discussions, as well as the increased international scrutiny of the situation in Hong Kong following mass protests against an extradition bill.
Economies around the world are hoping that the Trump–Xi meeting will yield a resolution to the U.S.–China trade dispute, after recent tensions due to tit-for-tat tariff increases and export bans on Chinese and U.S. companies.
G-20 Summit
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a press conference on June 24 to introduce Xi’s itinerary for the G-20 Summit.The Group of 20 (G-20) member nations, which includes the European Union and 19 other major economies, convene at an annual summit to discuss international economic cooperation. This year’s meeting will be held on June 28 and 29 in Osaka, Japan.
Xi will fly to Osaka on June 27 to hold a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Xi will meet with Trump during the summit, then fly back to Beijing on June 29.
The bill has drawn broad opposition within Hong Kong, with many fearing that, given China’s disregard for the rule of law, the proposal could allow the Chinese regime to charge with impunity, while further eroding the city’s freedoms and autonomy that were supposed to be guaranteed when the territory was handed to China from British rule in 1997.
Blue Book
Meanwhile, the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), a think tank under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, published a “Blue Book on the International Situation and China’s Foreign Affairs” on June 20.The blue book is released annually and represents Beijing’s official opinion.
It suggested that the United States’ influence was waning. “In general, the world keeps the pattern of one superpower along with many strong countries. But the superpower is now weakening and the strong ones are obviously differentiating themselves.”
The blue book concluded that the global power dynamic will become “the East rises while the West falls,” and that the next technological revolution will be more advantageous to “non-Western” nations.
It ended by pointing fingers at the United States, in line with recent state propaganda that has blamed the United States for failing to reach a trade agreement. “In this environment, the United States adjusted its strategy first and sought to change the international order ... in order to maintain its dominant position.”
U.S.-based China affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan predicted that this kind of strong rhetoric laying bare Beijing’s ambitions is likely to be repeated by Xi at the G-20 Summit.
“China’s foreign ministry published the blue book via its think tank just before the G-20, which means that it’s highly possible that Xi will deliver the same content during the summit,” Tang told The Epoch Times on June 24.
He explained that Beijing had two purposes for this hard-line approach: “Internally, the Chinese regime needs this book to fool Chinese people and let them believe that the communist regime is great. By which, it can stabilize its ruling. Externally, the Chinese regime wants to portray itself as a top decision-maker, and weaken the influence of the United States.”
Tang added that Xi sought to bolster the Chinese regime’s influence at G-20 after making trips to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and visiting Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.