China has called on members of the Group of 20 to uphold free trade, promote economic globalization that is universally beneficial and inclusive, and create a favorable policy environment for international trade and capital flows, said the Ministry of Finance.
The stance reaffirmed China's steadfast commitment to multilateral cooperation and its resolve to foster stronger global economic growth, experts said.
At a time when rising protectionism and geopolitical tensions are clouding the global growth outlook, China's economic resilience, policy predictability and continued opening-up are expected to inject much-needed momentum into the global economic recovery, they added.
"With the global economy facing multiple challenges, the G20 should further uphold true multilateralism," Vice-Minister of Finance Liao Min said while attending this year's second meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Asheville, North Carolina.
Liao said G20 members should strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and work toward stronger global growth, according to a news release issued by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.
Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said trade protectionism has intensified in recent years, with some Western economies seeking to reshape global supply chains along ideological lines — a shift that would raise costs and erode the efficiency underpinning global growth.
"Economic efficiency, rather than ideology, should guide the evolution of global supply chains," Tu said.
Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said closer economic policy coordination among major economies could help mitigate the risks that rising unilateralism, protectionism and geopolitical tensions pose to the global economy.
Highlighting the need for a comprehensive, objective and balanced assessment of global imbalances, Liao, the vice-minister, said development remained the fundamental solution to the debt challenges facing developing countries.
Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, also pointed to rising trade protectionism, the overstretching of the concept of national security and policy unpredictability as key factors behind worsening global imbalances in recent years.
Addressing such imbalances requires countries to advance their own structural reforms, he said. Deficit economies should reduce fiscal deficits and raise domestic savings rates, while surplus economies should appropriately promote consumption and investment growth.
China, for its part, has continued to press ahead with structural reforms and economic transformation, experts said.
"The country has pursued a development path that cultivates new growth drivers, unlocks untapped potential and makes its economy more resilient to shocks," Zhou said.
China's GDP grew 4.7 percent year-on-year in the first half, with new growth drivers accounting for more than two-fifths of economic expansion during the period, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in mid-July.
"China's high-quality development will continue to inject fresh impetus into global growth and create new opportunities for the world," Liao said.
He pointed to priorities for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), including expanding domestic demand, investing in people, advancing innovation-driven development and giving businesses of all ownership types greater room to thrive.
"Predictability and stability are perhaps the greatest dividends the Chinese market can offer the global economy," said Jiang Ying, chair of Deloitte China. "That is what everyone is looking for amid rising uncertainty."
In another development, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular news conference in Beijing on Wednesday that the G20 — as the premier forum for international economic cooperation — should address major global economic issues in an objective, fair and balanced manner, based on consensus and equal participation.
China hopes the United States, which holds this year's G20 presidency, and other members will uphold those principles, respect the legitimate concerns of all sides and help deliver positive outcomes at the summit in Miami, he said.
Since Washington assumed the G20 presidency, China has engaged actively and constructively in discussions across the group's various tracks, Guo said, adding that participants at the latest meeting had differed on some issues and that China found the absence of a communique regrettable.
"China stands ready to work with the US to act on the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state and join other members in strengthening the G20's role in coordinating macroeconomic policies, improving global economic governance and promoting global growth," Guo said.