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Coronavirus pandemic
EconomyChina Economy

Coronavirus: emergency G20 summit to contrast gung-ho US economic package with China’s softer approach

  • Emergency virtual summit of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies will take place on Thursday to discuss a global response to the coronavirus pandemic
  • Meeting will contrast the different approaches taken by China and Western powers to stymie the economic fallout of the outbreak

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Chinese President Xi Jinping will join leaders from major world economies at an emergency G20 meeting on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua
Amanda Lee

World leaders from the Group of 20 major economies, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, will convene an emergency virtual summit on Thursday to discuss the global response to the coronavirus pandemic and the economic damage it is causing.

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The summit will take place against a backdrop of an oil price war between two members, Saudi Arabia and Russia, and rising tensions between two others, the United States and China, over the origin of the virus, which has infected nearly 400,000 people globally and killed more than 18,000.

The meeting, which was called by host Saudi Arabia, will also contrast the different approaches taken by China and Western powers to stymie the economic fallout of the outbreak so far.

While the US and Europe are pulling out all the stops to rescue their virus-hit economies, China has opted for small and calculated measures to steady employment and consumption in the world’s second-largest economy. 

Iris Pang, Greater China economist at ING, said it was “anybody’s guess” whether there would be global co-ordination emanating from the Group of 20 (G20), but China was unlikely to follow the large-scale monetary easing taken by the US when it comes to stabilising its economy.

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