Japan won’t decide on AIIB membership until ‘governance, oversight issues addressed’
Tokyo still has misgivings about joining China-led development bank, says official
Leaders of the Group of Seven industrial nations discussed a new Chinese-led Asian investment bank at a summit on Sunday, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe underlining the need to address issues like corruption, his spokesman said.
While 57 countries, including G7 members Britain, Germany and France, have joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB, as founding members, Japan and the United States have stayed out of a venture seen as a rival to the US-dominated World Bank and Japan-led Asian Development Bank.
Tokyo is, however, keeping its options open. Abe's spokesman, Yasuhisa Kawamura, said at the G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps that Japan would not say whether or not it would join the bank until China had tackled concerns about human rights, debt sustainability, environmental protection and governance.
"Whether the AIIB would clear those elements is quite important for us. So unless those questions are cleared, Japan wouldn't position itself on whether to join or not," he said.
Tokyo has asked China to clarify these issues, but Beijing had not yet straightened them out, he said.
Kawamura said Abe had mentioned recently that cooperation between the ADB and the AIIB might be possible in future if Beijing tackled Tokyo's concerns.
He said German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said that the issue needed to be discussed next year, when Japan has the presidency of the G7.