New China-led AIIB may work with ADB: Chinese finance minister
New regional lender complements the Manila-based investment institute, finance minister says
China is discussing ways in which a new regional lender being pushed by Beijing can cooperate with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Sunday as he sought to fend off concerns that the two banks would become rivals.
Some 27 countries have signed up to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a US$50 billion fund due to begin operations at the end of the year providing project loans to developing countries. At least eight more countries may join the lender by the March 31 deadline, Jin Liqun, secretary general of the interim secretariat that is establishing the AIIB, told a panel at a conference in Beijing.
But the AIIB is seen by some as a challenge to the Manila-based ADB and World Bank, with the United States urging countries to think twice before signing up.
Lou described the relationship between the AIIB and the ADB as "complementary", saying he and ADB president Takehiko Nakao had discussed how the two could cooperate. "We discussed what safeguard standards we should adopt. I don't agree [with suggestions] which one is the best," Lou said.
The US, worried about China's growing diplomatic clout, has questioned whether the AIIB will have sufficient standards of governance as well as environmental and social safeguards.
Lou said the bank would reference the best practices of multilateral agencies but that some of those measures could be cumbersome. "We don't believe some bureaucratic or complex ways are good," he said.
The finance minister said the AIIB was dominated by developing countries and that their requests and demands needed to be respected.
Earlier opposition to the AIIB from Western countries partially dissolved after Britain said this month that it would join, with France, Germany and Italy swiftly following suit.
"China will follow the rules of the international community and will not bully other members but work together with them and try to reach consensus in all the decisions we make without brandishing the majority shareholder status," Jin said.
Japan, Australia and South Korea - all major US allies - remain absent from the AIIB's list of members. A Japanese government spokesman said on Friday that Tokyo maintained a "cautious position" on participation.
Confirming the talks with Lou, Nakao said his bank was ready to cooperate with the AIIB but that no decisions had yet been made on specific areas.
"We have already started sharing knowledge regarding procurement systems [and other technical matters]," he said on the sidelines of the conference.
Nakao earlier said Asia had a huge need for infrastructure financing, reiterating comments made by Lou.
