“China has always supported and practised multilateralism and committed to development in joint efforts with all other countries in open, cooperative and win-win spirits,” Xi said.

He said “a more inclusive global governance, a more effective multilateral governance and a more active regional cooperation” were needed to address crises and challenges during economic globalisation.

How Asian banks help the poor face Covid-19 as the rich fall short

The bank set up a coronavirus relief project to help its members to cope with the pandemic and announced in April it would double the funding to US$10 billion until October next year.

So far it has approved US$5.9 billion for 12 members for crisis emergency funding. Among those, it has pledged US$1.25 billion – co-financed with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank – to India, two US$500 million loans to Turkish development banks to tackle capital shortages and US$1 billion to Indonesia to counter the pandemic.

AIIB has repeatedly denied that the bank was intended to replace current international financial institutions or that it was designed as a tool for Chinese foreign policy. It said it was a new member of the current multilateral development banking system, had launched co-financing projects with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank and was sticking to the rules and practices of multilateral development financing institutions.

The bank started with US$100 billion in capital. China controlled 26.06 per cent of the voting shares. India, the second largest shareholder, held 7.01 per cent of the voting rights.