On September 15, 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) held a briefing for Chinese and foreign media. Vice Minister of MFA He Yafei, Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Xie Zhenhua, Assistant Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao and Assistant Governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) Guo Qingping introduced the upcoming visit of President Hu Jintao to New York and Pittsburgh, the U.S. from September 21 to 25 to attend the UN meetings and the 3rd Financial Summit of G20 Leaders. Director General of the Information Department of the MFA Ma Zhaoxu chaired the briefing which was attended by over 100 Chinese and foreign journalists.

He Yafei first of all introduced the background of relevant meetings.

I. The United Nations Climate Change Summit. The summit will be held at the UN headquarters on September 22 with the purpose of consolidating political consensus on and injecting political impetus into the Copenhagen conference to be held in December this year. President Hu will attend the summit and address the opening ceremony.

He said that climate change, as a severe challenge faced by the entire mankind, is a matter of human survival and the development of all countries. We always believe the following principles should be followed in carrying out international cooperation to fight against climate change. First, adhere to the basic framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol and strictly follow the authorization of the Bali roadmap; second, adhere to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities; third, adhere to the principle of sustainable development; fourth, attach equal importance to mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer and financial support. China expects the UN summit to send out 3 positive signals. First, parties concerned will strengthen solidarity and collaboration to cope with climate change together; second, parties concerned will follow the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities to achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcome; third, parties concerned will make concerted efforts to push for positive achievements of the Copenhagen conference. President Hu will comprehensively elaborate China's views and proposition on the issue of climate change, appeal to the international community to reinforce cooperation in order to address the challenges of climate change, introduce the efforts China has already made and declare the next actions China will take soon.

II. General debate of the 64th Session of the General Assembly. The 64th Session of the General Assembly will start on September 15 and hold the general debate on September 23. Leaders of 140 countries will attend the general debate to expound their opinions on the international situation, the role of the UN and the major international and regional issues.

He said that nations depend on each other more closely and multilateralism and democratization of international relations have been deeply rooted in people's hearts with the rapid changes in the international situation and advance of globalization. Meanwhile, some international and regional hot issues have not yet been settled, and what's even worse is that the international financial crisis and economic recession are continuing. Despite some signs of recovery, the trend is not stable. The issue of uneven development also remains serious. We are faced with such global issues as climate change, food security, energy resources security and security of public health. The international community is looking forward to an important role of the UN. President Hu will deliver a speech at the general debate, completely expounding China's views on the current international situation and major global issues and explaining China's proposition on how to maintain world peace, promote common development, push forward mutual beneficial and win-win cooperation and realize harmonious co-existence.

III. UN Security Council Summit of Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. At the invitation of U.S. President Obama, President Hu will attend the UN Security Council Summit of Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament to be held at the UN headquarters on September 24 and make a speech there. The participants will mainly discuss the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament issues, including arms control and nuclear disarmament, international non-proliferation regime, prevention of the illicit trafficking in nuclear materials, security of nuclear materials and international peace and security. In the field of nuclear non-proliferation, the international community holds extensive consensus with ever expanding international cooperation. However, there still exist many complicated and uncertain factors. As to nuclear arms control and disarmament, the international community generally hopes to advance the nuclear disarmament process and ultimately achieve the goal of peace without nuclear weapons. As the international community pays greater attention to nuclear energy due to serious global energy problems, it is our major task of effectively using the nuclear energy peacefully and strengthening the international cooperation. Nuclear material security and fighting against nuclear terrorism are also drawing wide attention.

He said that the summit, as the first one ever held by the Security Council especially on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, is of great significance. It's hoped that the summit will further foster international consensus and explore the effective approaches of moving forward the process of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and peaceful utilization of nuclear energy in a balanced manner. During the summit, the opinions of Security Council members should be listened to extensively, especially the opinions of the developing countries. The authoritative role of the Security Council of safeguarding world peace and security should be reflected, and other international organizations and multilateral treaty bodies under the framework of the UN should also be supported in carrying out their duties effectively. President Hu will address the summit, introducing China's view of building universal security through mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation in line with the new international security situation and illustrate China's proposition on the major concerns of the international community, such as nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, peaceful use of nuclear energy and nuclear security.

IV. 3rd Financial Summit of G20 Leaders. The summit is a major and effective platform for the international community to cope with the financial crisis and strengthen the global economic governance jointly. The previous two summits have achieved crucial results and reached wide consensus. It's hoped that the 3rd one will make positive achievements in four aspects. First, continue to enhance macro-economic policy coordination and boost the rapid recovery of world economy; second, actively push forward the reform of governance structure of international financial institutions following the schedule defined at the London summit and increase the voice and representation of the emerging markets and developing countries; third, promote common development and pay attention to the development issue of the developing countries, particularly the least developed countries; fourth, oppose trade protectionism and push for comprehensive and balanced results of the Doha round of talks at the earliest date possible. President Hu will elaborate China's views and proposition on such major issues as stimulating the world economic recovery, reforming the international financial system and tackling the unbalanced development worldwide, and introduce the measures taken by China to address the crisis and the achievements China has made.

Xie introduced the principled position and measures of China to fight against climate change. He said that President Hu will further explain China's principle and position of handling the global climate change and expectation on the Copenhagen conference and declare China's future policy and measures on the issue. During the summit, leaders of different countries will have an opportunity to discuss the complete, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

He noted that climate change is a major global issue drawing wide attention from the international community. The root cause of climate change is mainly the huge greenhouse gas emissions from the developed countries, and the developing countries are the biggest victims. Faced with the negative impact of climate change, no single country can act alone, and also nobody is immune to its devastating effects. We are in urgent need of international cooperation. The Copenhagen conference will create an important opportunity and platform for us to jointly cope with the challenge. The Convention, Protocol and Bali roadmap serve as the foundation of guaranteeing the success of the Copenhagen conference. To achieve success, the conference must strictly follow the authorization of the Bali roadmap with the core of further strengthening the all-round, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention and Protocol and the focus on mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer and financial support. First, the developed countries should achieve quantified emission cuts; second, they should fulfill their commitment to funding, technology transfer and capacity building support; third, the developing countries should take appropriate mitigation actions in line with their own national conditions and under the framework of sustainable development.

He added that China is deeply cognizant of the seriousness and urgency of the issue of climate change and has developed the guiding principle of implementing the scientific concept of development to strengthen capacity building in order to tackle climate change and contribute more to the global efforts of protecting the climate, established the leading organization and working mechanism at the national level to fight against climate change and implemented the National Climate Change Program. Our series of policies, measures and actions have achieved remarkable results. China will pursue the road of sustainable development resolutely and reinforce the policies and measures against climate change. We will undertake the responsibilities fitting China's development stage, adopt actions proportionate to China's real capacity and work hard with the greatest sincerity for the full success of the Copenhagen conference.

Zhu introduced the policy preparation of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting for the Pittsburg summit to handle the crisis and boost the economic recovery. The G20 Pittsburg summit is a critical meeting to be held by countries in the process of fighting the crisis and stimulating the recovery. The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting mainly discussed the macro-economic measures against the crisis, how to promote the sustainable economic development and reform the international financial institutions and reached consensus in the following areas:

First, the global economic and financial situation and the “exit strategy”. The global economy tends to grow stable at present and the financial market is stabilizing gradually. However, the foundation of global economic recovery is yet not strong and there still exist many uncertainties which mainly include sluggish credit and financing activities, increasing risk of structural unemployment, re-emergence of protectionism and big fluctuation of bulk commodity prices. Countries should give top priority to maintaining the stable economic growth, continue to implement the expansionary fiscal and monetary policies, rebalance the structure, increase employment and oppose trade protectionism. Participants agreed to take a prudent attitude towards the “exit strategy” so as to avoid sending wrong signals to the market. Only when the basis of global economic recovery grows solid, can countries think about withdrawing the current non-regular fiscal, monetary and financial supportive policies.

Second, reform the governance structure and increase the financial resources of international financial organizations. It's emphasized that the governance structure reform of such international financial institutions as the IMF and the World Bank must be accelerated according to the schedule and roadmap defined at the London summit. The newly increased resources should be mainly used to support the low-income countries in handling the crisis and promoting development.

Third, improve the financial system. The macro-prudential supervision should be further improved, the influence of pro-cyclical factors of the financial system should be curtailed, and the cross-border regulatory cooperation and risk management should be strengthened. Focus should be put on reinforcing the compensation management, fighting against the financial risks arising from non-cooperative jurisdictions and improving the existing international accounting standards.

Zhu said that the Chinese side introduced in the speech at the meeting its current domestic economic situation and stressed that the stimulus package of the Chinese government had achieved clear results. The Chinese economy has turned for better, but the basis is yet not solid enough. China will continue to pursue the proactive fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy unswervingly, consolidate the trend of stabilization and promote the stable and relatively fast growth of economy. At present, the global economy stands at a critical moment of getting out of crisis to recovery. Countries should keep the continuity and stability of their macro-economic policies, continue to implement the fiscal and monetary policies suitable to their own national conditions, oppose trade protectionism in whatever form and boost financial stability and economic recovery.

Guo introduced China's efforts of implementing the G20 London summit consensus and the hot topics of the Pittsburg summit. Talking about the London summit consensus, he noted that first China had joined and actively participated in the activities of such international organizations as the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and made its voice heard in the process of setting international financial standards. After joining the FSB, China has engaged in the discussions on the organizational structure of the FSB, the development of global financial rules, the risk early warning exercise and international cooperation on financial supervision and fully expressed its interests in the development of financial market and financial stability as an emerging economy and a major developing country. Recently, China became a member of several FSB's standing committees i.e. the steering committee and vulnerability assessment committee, supervision cooperation committee and standard execution committee. It also joined the BCBS and the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) as a full member, which further enhanced China's voice in the international financial organizations and in the process of setting key international financial rules. Second, China plays an active part in the international efforts of crisis relief. During the G20 London summit, the G20 leaders agreed to double the IMF's available funds to US$750 billion and issue another US$250 billion of SDR. China actively supports the IMF in increasing resources through the quota-based system and voluntary contributions and striking a balance between the rights and obligations of the contributing countries. China has declared to buy no more than US$50 billion of IBM bonds. This will increase the available resources of the IMF, which can intensify support for the developing countries and will diversify China's reserve assets. Third, China has actively participated in the trade financing plan of international organizations, accelerated the multilateralization of Chiang Mai Initiative and implemented pilot of cross-border trade settlement with renminbi. China fulfilled its commitment to buying US$1.5 billion of private bonds of the World Bank. The Export-Import Bank of China offered US$620 million of trade financing to other emerging economies. The People's Bank of China entered into the bilateral currency swap agreements with 6 central banks or monetary authorities worth altogether RMB650 billion. In addition, we have actively participated in the multilateralization of Chiang Mai Initiative. In May 2009, the 10 member countries of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea reached agreement on setting up a reserve pool of US$120 billion. Not long ago, in order to facilitate trade and investment within the region, we sped up the cross-border trade settlement process of renminbi and have launched relevant pilots in Shanghai and Guangdong province. Fourth, it's important to strengthen the monitoring, assessment and early warning of systematic financial risks and launch the FSAP; fifth, we will reinforce financial supervision and international cooperation and join the international efforts of reforming the financial supervision.

Concerning the two hot topics of the Pittsburg summit, Guo noted that the first is the reform and financial resource increase of international financial institutions. One of the priorities at present is to reform the governance structure of the IMF while increasing its resources. We believe that the IMF is an international financial organization based on quota and quota increase is a fundamental way of solving the problem of fund shortage and conducive to improving its governance structure. We appeal to parties concerned to implement the consensus of the G20 London summit as soon as possible and clarify the target, schedule and roadmap of next financial resource increase. While increasing the available resources substantially, we should raise the representation of the emerging markets and developing countries in the IMF in a planned and step-by-step way. In general, the reform of IMF's governance structure should aim at enhancing the representation and voice of the developing countries and give top priority to advancing the quota and voting right reform. The Pittsburg summit should specify the target of transferring the voting right from the developed countries to the developing ones so as to ensure the equal right to vote of both the developed and the developing countries in the IMF. It's also hoped that the proportion of members from the developing countries and emerging markets in the senior management of the IMF will increase so that the senior management will enjoy wider representation and legitimacy in fulfilling its duty. The second is the reform of the international financial supervisory system. China proposes to strengthen risk early warning, improve the vulnerability assessment of the global and national financial systems and watch closely the influence of changes in the international monetary environment and cross-border capital flow on financial stability; increase capital of financial institutions, enhance liquidity, manage dividends and remuneration prudently and improve the ability of individual financial institutions of resisting risks; reinforce macro-prudential supervision and reduce the procyclicality of financial system; build a globally consistent system of international regulatory principles and step up regulation of the unsupervised markets and products and financial infrastructure construction; intensify cross-border supervisory cooperation and risk management and form a resultant force; improve and promote the core principles of effective deposit insurance system and investors protection mechanism, build an orderly exit mechanism for financial institutions and reduce moral hazard.

The officials also answered questions of the journalists on such issues as the current world economic situation, the reform of international financial system, trade protectionism, China's overseas investment and internationalization of renminbi.