CANNES, France - Sweets are popping up in Cannes, the French coastal town that is playing host to the G20 summit on Thursday and Friday.

Along the city's seaside boulevard and inside a press center there, monumental statues, resembling giant candies wrapped up in the flags of various countries, pay homage to the world's economic powerhouses.

Even sweeter is the giant "G" symbol that has been made using French dessert macaroons and chocolates. It lies in front the entrance of Le Palais des Festivals, the main venue for both the summit this year and the annual Cannes Film Festival.

"Sweet" may not be the best word to describe the summit, an event that will see leaders discussing some of the most pressing issues in the world. Even so, there will be some "candies" that they will have a hard time taking their eyes off.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, China was the most sought-after of those sweets. Its actions are of great interest to both the European governments embroiled in the current debt troubles and to the international media.

At the summit, anyone wearing a badge affiliating himself or herself with a Chinese media organization quickly drew attention from international journalists, who tried their best to learn more about the Chinese delegation's schedule.

Journalists and experts from Spain, France, the UK and various other countries quickly picked up the more than 100 copies of the China Daily that were available at the press center.

"China is so important," said an Associated Press journalist who declined to provide his name. "It is on the news every day. And, in this summit, everybody wants to know what China will do, especially on the euro debt-crisis issue."

The summit's agenda changed as quickly as Cannes' weather.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's decision to hold a referendum on whether Greece will accept an EU rescue offer took away any chance European leaders had to celebrate the plan they had formed in October to save the country from its debts.

What Greece has given them has obviously not been very sweet.

"Yesterday, it was all about China," said the Japanese journalist Junichi Kodama. "And now Greece steals the show."