World leaders attending the G20 summit in Japan are clashing over the values that have served for decades as the foundation of their cooperation.
European Union president Donald Tusk on Friday blasted Russian president Vladimir Putin for suggesting in an interview with the Financial Times that liberalism was "obsolete".
In a statement to reporters, Mr Tusk said, "We are here as Europeans also to firmly and unequivocally defend and promote liberal democracy."
He said, "What I find really obsolete are: authoritarianism, personality cults, the rule of oligarchs. Even if sometimes they may seem effective."
As US president Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Mr Putin and other leaders met on the sidelines of the summit, Mr Tusk told reporters such comments suggest a belief that "freedoms are obsolete, that the rule of law is obsolete and that human rights are obsolete".
Mr Putin told the Financial Times that "The liberal idea has become obsolete. It has come into conflict with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population".
He praised Mr Trump for his moves to try to stop the flow of migrants and drugs from Mexico and said that liberalism "presupposes that nothing needs to be done."
That migrants can kill, plunder and rape with impunity because their rights as migrants have to be protected.
The G20 leaders are meeting at a time of profound tensions over trade, globalisation and Iran's collapsing nuclear deal.
While prospects for detente in the trade war between the US and China are in the spotlight, many participating are calling for a broader perspective in tackling global crises.
Mr Trump's meeting with the Chinese president on Saturday as the G20 meetings conclude has raised hopes for a detente in the tariffs war between the world's two largest economies.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross accompanied Mr Trump to Osaka.
But a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said China intends to defend itself against further US moves to penalise it over trade friction.
China often has sought to gain support for defending global trade agreements against Mr Trump's "America First" stance in gatherings like the G20.
Threats by Mr Trump to impose more tariffs on Chinese exports "won't work on us because the Chinese people don't believe in heresy and are not afraid of pressure," China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
Mr Trump has at times found himself at odds with other leaders in such international events, particularly on issues such as Iran, climate change and trade.
Mr Abe has sought to make the Osaka summit a landmark for progress on environmental issues, including climate change.
French President Emmanuel Macron reinforced that message on Wednesday during a state visit to Tokyo, where he described climate change as a "red line" issue for endorsing a G20 communique.
US President Donald Trump, left, instigates a fist bump with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, centre, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit
Host Japan also hopes to forge agreements on reforms of global finance, especially strengthening precautions against abuse of technologies such as cyber-currencies to fund terrorism and other types of internet-related crimes.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was urging G20 leaders to take action on equitable and stable reforms to strengthen the global financial safety net and increase the global economy's resilience.
Mr Guterres said in a letter to the leaders gathered in Osaka that although the world has made progress fixing some big problems, it is not happening fast enough or shared by all countries.
While there are good plans and vision, what is needed are "accelerated actions, not more deliberations," he said.
Fast and equal economic growth should be constructed so that people who live in "the 'rust belts' of the world are not left behind," he added.
President Donald Trump meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Picture: AP Photo/Susan Walsh
PA
