The 11th G20 Summit, set to convene in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, is approaching. Hype is swirling among foreign media that some countries will raise the South China Sea disputes during the summit in September. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong warned on Monday that the summit should not be distracted by other topics, emphasizing it is purely about global economic governance, trade and investment.

The Hangzhou summit comes at a time of prolonged global economic recession and intensifying geopolitical squabbles. However, founded in 1999 as a response to the Asian financial crisis, the G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies to discuss ways to strengthen the global economy, promote international financial stability and reform financial institutions. High hopes are pinned on the Hangzhou summit that China can lead the world to find a way out of the economic doldrums. The meeting should not be marred by irrelevant political disputes.

The South China Sea disputes in essence are a bilateral problem and should be solved through bilateral negotiations. It's totally unrelated to the G20 summit. However, from the G7 to the G20, some Western countries and politicians have tried to make use of multilateral occasions to internationalize the issue. For instance, the G7 summit in Ise-Shima, Japan, in May ended without workable solutions to any of the exisiting problems such as declining growth and terrorism, but it did not forget to hype up the South China Sea issue in its statement. This is of no help in solving maritime disputes, instead only blurring the focus of the summits.

China won't surrender to any outside pressure and has been persistent in the dual-track approach for the good of regional stability, which means that territorial disputes related to the South China Sea should be addressed through negotiations and consultations among the countries directly concerned, and China and ASEAN countries should work together to safeguard peace and stability in the region. China is carrying out active consultations with ASEAN in a meeting among senior diplomatic officials in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to move forward on negotiating a code of conduct in the South China Sea.

The world is now confronted with daunting economic challenges. The G20 summit offers good opportunities for the 20 major economies to coordinate policies and bridge divergences so as to find new impetus to revive the global market. Should the upcoming summit be a meeting to get the sluggish economies back on track or a stage that would intensify geopolitical conflicts? Anyone who really cares about the world's sustainable development will support the former.