Taiwan in last-minute bid to join AIIB as founding member
Taipei decided on Monday night to make a last-minute formal application on Tuesday to join the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member.
Taipei decided on Monday night to make a last-minute formal application on Tuesday to join the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member.
The decision was announced after Taiwan's Presidential Office held a closed-door national security meeting yesterday, bringing together the heads of various government departments to discuss the island's bid to join the new regional financing body.
"The finance ministry will prepare the necessary documents, which will be reviewed and approved by the cabinet before they are sent to the mainland via our existing communication channel with the [State Council's] Taiwan Affairs Office [in Beijing]," presidential spokesman Charles Chen I-hsin said.
Chen also said in a statement that joining the AIIB would aid Taiwan's push for regional economic integration "and increase the odds of the island taking part in international affairs and international economic and trade organisations".
But it was not immediately known whether Taiwan would be accepted as a founding member.
The AIIB requires member countries to have statehood to join, and Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province.
Taiwan's decision on the eve of Tuesday's deadline for submissions came as Egypt became the first African nation to apply to join the development bank.
According to the finance ministry in Beijing, more than 40 countries have signed up.
In Seoul, deputy finance minister of international affairs Choi Hee-nam said South Korea, a US ally, expected to take a 4-5 per cent stake in the development bank and wanted to be a founding member.
"Stakes of the individual members will be decided based on economic size and other factors, and it looks like [South Korea's stake] will be 4 to 5 percent," Choi said on the KBS public radio channel.
Choi said South Korea hoped to play an important role in the bank's management.
He said South Korea had a 5.1 per cent stake in the Asian Development Bank, which is dominated by the United States and Japan and faces a challenge from the AIIB.
In Hong Kong, the government has expressed an interest in taking part in the AIIB, although Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Professor Chan Ka-keung dismissed news reports that the city needed to put up HK$10 billion in capital.
Speaking at a special finance committee meeting at the Legislative Council, Chan said: "The figure is not accurate, even though we don't have it yet … At the end, we will seek funding from Legco and will present the documents to garner … support for joining."
He said the AIIB was still being established and the articles of agreement were being drafted.
China is putting up much of the US$50 billion in initial funding, about half what it hopes to eventually attract.
Chan said funding estimates for Hong Kong would not be ready until the agreement and details of its involvement were finalised. "Hong Kong is an asset management and finance centre. We believe … our finance or professional services could help nearby countries in their investment in infrastructure. So the benefits will be enormous."
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has said he will discuss with Beijing how the special administrative region can get in on the act under the principle of "one country, two systems".
Additional reporting by Reuters, Agence France-Presse