Canada halts ‘government-led activity’ at AIIB amid claims of Chinese Communist Party control

Deputy prime minister announces review of Ottawa’s membership in Beijing-based lender hours after ex-director alleged that ‘party people run the bank’

AIIB disputes claims, countering that the senior PR officer who joined in March 2022 had been ‘supported and empowered’ throughout his tenure

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Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, has called for an immediate investigation into the allegations surrounding the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:30am, 15 Jun 2023Updated: 8:30am, 15 Jun 2023

Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister has announced that the country is immediately ceasing all “government-led activity” at the China-helmed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The revelation on Wednesday by Chrystia Freeland, Ottawa’s No 2 official, came just hours after the global lender’s senior public relations officer, a Canadian national, resigned amid allegations on social media that key positions at the bank were held by “Communist Party hacks” and that the “Western publics” were not being “served by their membership in AIIB”.

“The government of Canada will immediately halt all government-led activity at the bank,” said Freeland, adding that she had instructed finance officials to review Ottawa’s membership in AIIB and claims that the bank is dominated by the Communist Party.

“The review I am announcing today is to be undertaken expeditiously,” she said. “And I am not ruling out any outcome following its completion.”

AIIB denied the accusations in an official statement as “baseless and disappointing”.

The Chinese embassy in Washington responded similarly, saying in an emailed response to questions that AIIB “firmly implements multilateralism, stays open, and promotes development together with its partners”.