Call for joint action

Chinese President Hu Jintao's speech at the Group of 20 (G20) financial summit in London should ram home the message to the international community that the time to act together is now.

With the global financial crisis taking its toll on the world economy on an unprecedented scale, all countries have recognized they are more or less in the same boat.

However, in absence of decisive and coordinated action on key issues such as preventing trade and investment protectionism, it is likely the world economy is yet to bottom out since the first such summit in Washington last November.