Praise for UK鈥檚 bid to join bank investing in Asia development
Print Edition
CHINA yesterday hailed Britain’s announcement that it will seek to join a Chinese-led development bank.
The US$50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was launched in Beijing last year to spur investment in Asia in transport, energy, telecommunications and other infrastructure.
China said last week that 27 countries are founder members, mostly from Asia and the Middle East.
Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and others have declined to become founding members — but London on Thursday said it plans to become the first major Western country to join the bank, in a move to bolster relations with China.
“We welcome this decision made by the UK side,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular briefing.
He said that “if all goes well,” Britain would become a prospective member of the bank by the end of the month.
“The AIIB will complement the existing development banks,” Hong said, adding that it “will learn from the good practice of the existing multilateral development banks and, meanwhile, take a detour from their path so as to reduce costs and increase operational efficiency.”
George Osborne, Britain’s finance minister, said on Thursday: “Joining the AIIB at the founding stage will create an unrivalled opportunity for the UK and Asia to invest and grow together.”
The president of the World Bank said yesterday he welcomed the setting up of the China-backed bank.
With US interest rates likely to rise later this year, capital flows to emerging markets and low-income countries will face greater challenges over time, Jim Yong Kim told a news conference in Tokyo.
“From the perspective simply of the need for more infrastructure spending, there’s no doubt that from our perspective, we welcome the entry of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,” he said. “As the UK just announced today in their statement, they were very clear in saying that they were going to insist that the standards of any new bank that they are part of would be equal to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.”
All of the multilateral development banks together contribute only about 5 to 10 percent of the overall annual spending in infrastructure, he added.
Japan, China’s main regional rival, has the highest shareholding in the Asian Development Bank along with the United States, while Australian media said Washington put pressure on Canberra to stay out.
Vice Finance Minister Joo Hyung-hwan told reporters on Thursday that South Korea was still in discussions with China and other countries about its possible participation.
London’s move drew a cautious response from Washington, a rare note of discord in their “special relationship,” which follows criticism from the US about Britain’s defense spending cuts.
“We believe any new multilateral institution should incorporate the high standards of the World Bank and the regional development banks,” said US National Security Council spokesman Patrick Ventrell.
“Based on many discussions, we have concerns about whether the AIIB will meet these high standards, particularly related to governance, and environmental and social safeguards.”
In a commentary, Xinhua news agency said Washington “exhibited nothing but a childish paranoia toward China.”
“It seems that the US government needs to be reminded that bias and a deep-rooted strategic distrust toward China is by no means helpful in forging a healthy relationship with the country,” Xinhua wrote.
“It’s imperative for Washington to change its mindset,” it added.
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