G-20: Beijing no longer a wallflower

April 1, 5:33 PMForeign Policy ExaminerAimee Kligman

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G-20 Red Nose cakes baked by Margaret Darling, the wife of British Chancellor of the Exchequer Chancellor Alistair Darling, which were given to Finance Ministers attending the G20 Finance Ministers' Meeting in Horsham, England, in return for a donation to Comic Relief, Friday, March 13, 2009. China chose the day the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers gathered in southern England to raise warnings about what Washington's drive to spend its way out of recession might do to U.S. government debt, which Beijing holds in large quantities.

(AP Photo / Simon Dawson, Bloomberg News) 

The South China Morning Post had an interesting article today on China's role at the G-20 summit. It noted that after years of China's low profile standing on the international scene, that it was 'refreshing and interesting'  to hear Chinese leaders beginning to speak up on most important international questions of the day.

Certainly, national pride in China's skyrocketing growth and economic power is well placed.

In the past week, Chinese finance senior officials, among which, the Director of the Central Bank and Minister of Finance, have each publicly expressed the need for a new world currency and a reform of the world system. Deputy Prime Minister, Wang Qishan clearly formulated China's proposed reforms of world institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Hong Kong daily estimated that Wang Qishan was hoping to obtain these reforms in return for larger Chinese contributions. It emphasized that these actions reflected a self-confidence and desire of the Chinese leaders that their country play a leading role in international affairs.