Lan Xue is a professor in and dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Yanbing Zhang is assistant professor in the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University.

Did Media Coverage Enhance or Threaten the Viability of G20 Summits?

In China, the Seoul G20 Summit was overshadowed by other issues.

First, the US monetary stimulus policy, quantitative easing (QE 2), launched one week before the summit was discussed extensively by the media, overshadowing the summit coverage. Chinese commentators were critical of this US initiative and widely reported on the international criticism of the US policy and its potential to damage the world economy. The announcement of QE 2 helped to generate more interest and attention to the G20 summit, but for the wrong reasons. People were more interested in watching the major powers address the new conflicts generated by QE 2, forgetting that the key theme of this summit was the transformation of the G20 into a major mechanism for international economic cooperation and stability. The G20 agenda became distorted by the international reaction to QE 2.

Second, the summit was overshadowed by the tension between China and the US on East Asian security issues over the past year and the tension between China and Japan concerning Diaoyu Island over the last two months. Security issues had become a key concern, weakening the public’s interest in the G20 as a mechanism of international cooperation. People paid attention to the summit mainly to see how Chinese leaders interacted with other leaders on security issues.

Third, Chinese media have been busy with several other important events in recent days: the 2010 Asian Games started on November12; the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting was held just after the Seoul summit in Japan on November 13; and China and Portuguese-speaking countries also had a ministerial conference on cooperation on November 13. Therefore, the Chinese media coverage of the G20 summit was diluted because of these other international events.

Generally speaking, the media welcomed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reform, but some opinion leaders pointed out that the IMF was no longer as important in the global economic affairs. China also took a positive stance toward “development” as the new G20 agenda item. However, Chinese media’s greatest concern and focus was on the response to the devaluation of the US dollar.

How was the Rebalancing Issue Dealt With?

China’s media focused more on “strong, sustainable and balanced growth of the world” rather than the “framework.” Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held a press briefing on November 14, where he pointed out three achievements of the G20 summit, including: the effort to promote “strong, sustainable and balanced growth,” the focus on development issues and global financial system regulation. “Global imbalance” is understood in China to be a problem that also involves uneven global development, rather than simply the problem of trade deficit and surplus.

The Role of President Hu Jintao

The media in China highlighted the four key suggestions made by President Hu Jintao at the Seoul G20 Summit, all of which had profound implications. The first was regarding the “framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth.” President Hu noted the importance of this framework, and pointed out that it should be improved further. The second suggestion was concerning free trade and anti-protectionism. China has held such a position since the first G20 summit. The third and most interesting idea suggested pertained to the international financial system. President Hu argued that, as far as International Financial Institutions (IFIs) are concerned, voting rights reform was only a starting point — management should have greater representation from qualified people drawn from developing countries. This suggestion demonstrates that the Chinese government still cares about IFIs and believes these institutions should do more for developing countries through management reform. Further, the international monetary system should be improved. The major reserve currency economy should implement responsible policies to avoid causing risk to other economies, particularly the emerging economies. China understands the problems of the dollar-dominated international monetary system and the vulnerability of the emerging economies within this system, and hopes the US can become more responsible for this issue. The fourth point President Hu highlighted related to development. Hu’s argument is that technology transfer from developed countries is key to fostering sustainable development in developing countries, and developed countries should do more in this area. There is great potential for collaboration between developed and developing countries in the field of technology transfer.

Reflections on the Role of South Korea

Chinese media did take notice that the Seoul summit was the first G20 summit to be held by a non-Western, former developing country in Asia. South Korea is China’s neighbour and it has a very close relationship with China because of historical and geopolitical reasons. China is South Korea’s biggest trading partner and has a deep understanding of Korea’s achievement of “developed” country status over the last several decades. The media in China has not realized South Korea’s ambition to become “Global Korea” and its ambition to play a leadership role in the world by hosting the G20 summit. South Korea has certainly been praised by Chinese leaders and media for bringing “development” onto the G20 agenda. It was widely reported in China that the Seoul summit was successful and the Korean government deserves recognition for achieving the goal of becoming the host of the G20 summit.