China must be flag-bearer for free trade

The G20 Summit in Hangzhou is expected to set records for both the number of participants and the number of meetings, as some non-G20 members have been invited as guests and BRICS leaders will hold an informal meeting on the sidelines of the summit.

As host to such a significant forum, China needs to better play its role as a flag-bearer for free trade. The United States was the initiator and has been the leading advocator of the world's multilateral and liberal trade system after the end of World War II.

But while exerting a huge influence on the development of international trade rules, it has not gone all-out to advance inclusive, non-discriminatory liberalization of multilateral trade or further reduced its trade barriers. Instead it has been dragging its feet on the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization talks and spared no efforts in seeking to create regional economic groups exclusive of those major trading powers such as China that it believes threaten its leading status.