Leaders of G20 Should Pay Attention to the Special Summit on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Strengthening Sino-US Cooperation is the Choice to Maximize the Benefits of Globalization
2020-03-28 Saturday(Daily Transparent)
On March 26th, Leaders of the G20 major economies will hold a summit to deal with the Covid-19. G20 members, guest countries and heads of relevant international organizations will attend the meeting. Facing the global economic recession under the global epidemic situation, strengthening Sino-US cooperation should become the focus of this summit.
As of March 25th, there were more than 470,000 confirmed cases in at least 192 countries and regions worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
Affected by the pandemic of Covid-19 and the oil price war, global stock markets plunged one after another, ushering in a “circuit breaker”. Within 10 days, Tesla’s share price cut halved, triggering a market circuit breaker for the 4th time. Apple market value once fell below the trillion-dollar. Boeing’s trend was more representative, and the share price fell by 70% at one time, from $270 at the beginning of March to $89.
In response to this economic crisis, US President Donald Trump declared a “state of national emergency” at the White House on the afternoon of March 13rd, entering a “state of national emergency” that could provide US federal and local governments with an additional $ 50 billion to deal with the pandemic.
On March 25th, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted to approve the $2 trillion emergency package, which will be the biggest economic rescue package in U.S. history.
Gita Gopinath, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), pointed out in an article that the Covid-19 pandemic has hit both the supply and demand sides of the world due to the reduction in production and the lower willingness of consumers and enterprises to spend due to the disruption of business activities.
On March 13rd, the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism held a press conference. Li Xinggan, director of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the average operating rate of industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide except Hubei exceeded 95%, and the average rate of resumption of work of enterprise personnel was about 80%. The operating rate of small and medium-sized enterprises has reached about 60%.
Zeng Gang, Deputy Director-General of China’s National Institution for Finance & Development, believes that with the gradual resumption of work and production, China’s economy will gradually return to a normal state starting from the second quarter, and subsequent economic development will be significantly better than during the epidemic. In this sense, China’s resumption of work and production not only creates better conditions for economic recovery, but also provides better support for the world economy.
The United States and China, the world’s first and second largest economies, are also the world’s third and first most populous countries. At this critical moment, the depth of cooperation in the global economic recession and epidemic prevention will have a fundamental impact on the global economic trend and epidemic prevention.
At present, more than 50 countries in the world have declared a state of emergency. Billions of people are instructed to stay at home to fight the epidemic. Production and circulation have been greatly affected. China has entered the recovery period. Judging from the current global economic situation, President Trump should make right decision to end the trade war with China as soon as possible in order to maintain economic growth.
Because the end of the trade war is a huge symbolic event that will lift the markets of China and the United States. At the same time, the end of the trade war will help stabilize prices in the US market and directly stimulate domestic consumption in the US. With the large-scale resumption of work by Chinese enterprises and others, Chinese and American enterprises are free to cooperate, which is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Chinese and American enterprises and for the revitalization of the global economy.
On March 25th, China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu said: G20 members should strengthen unity, release a strong signal to jointly deal with challenges and boost the confidence of the international community. We are looking forward to strengthening macroeconomic policy coordination, adopting necessary fiscal, monetary and structural policies, promoting market opening, ensuring the open, stable, safe and smooth operation of the global supply chain and playing a constructive role in boosting market confidence.
