President Hu Jintao's participation in the G8 summit's outreach
session will help China deal with major international issues and
boost mutually beneficial cooperation with the rest of the
developing world, experts said yesterday.
Beijing's response to burning global issues will be taken more
seriously because the international community is now paying greater
attention to the rapid development of the country, said Sun Zhe, a
senior research scholar with Shanghai's Fudan University.
The three-day gathering of leaders of the world's major powers
in the German resort of Heiligendamm is expected to focus on
climate change, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and
investment liberalization.
Hu is expected to elaborate China's way of development and
appears to have chosen climate change as one of his top diplomatic
issues because the heated debate on global warming has been going
on for a long time now, Sun said.
China became the first developing country to release a national
program on climate change before the summit. The move shows its
willingness to act as a responsible member of the international
community to combat global warming, he said.
Though there are fears that China may face further pressure from
G8 members to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, reports quoted a
German expert on Chinese affairs Eberhard Sandschneide as saying
there are few indications that other world leaders will play
hardball with Hu. When the West itself is still struggling to reach
consensus on climate change, it's unlikely for it to expect China
alone to fix a emission cutting goal, Sandschneide said.
"Hu is expected to take full advantage of the G8 summit to
stress China's stance on important global issues and reflect the
vitality of the country's diplomacy," Sun said.
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China should communicate with the rest of the developing world in
an active way to erase misunderstanding and distrust among the
developing world, he said.
This is the fourth time President Hu is taking take part in the
G8 summit's outreach session.
The increase in exchanges and dialogues between China and the G8
members conforms to the interests of the two sides. A series of
ministerial level dialogues in finance, energy and public health
were held before the G8 summit.
Chen Xulong, a senior scholar with China Institute of
International Studies, said G8 members would like to see how China
can work as a bridge between the Northern and Southern
hemispheres.
Such a situation has been necessitated because China would not
seek to be a member of the industrialized group of countries, said
Fudan University scholar Ren Xiao.
The best position for China as a developing country is a
moderate level of participation at the G8 Summit, he said, though
it has to exert itself.
(China Daily June 7, 2007)
