There appeared to be a difference of opinions between government agencies about Taiwan’s role in China’s initiative to set up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to cover its “One Belt, One Road” project, which has been described as a Chinese version of the Marshall Plan.
“If we were invited [by China] to join the AIIB, we would love to join because it would open up opportunities,” Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said at the legislature yesterday.
Chang made the remarks when he was asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) to declare the position of the government on the AIIB at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee.
“This is how we see the issue, but we have not yet been invited,” Chang said.
Hsueh said that Chang’s reply indicated that a choice had been made by the government to side with China against the US, which has expressed doubts about the project, although the UK has announced its decision to join the AIIB and some other European nations have also expressed interests.
At a regular news conference, Mainland Affairs Council spokesperson Wu Mei-hung (吳美紅) reiterated that whether Taiwan would seek to join the AIIB is still under consideration by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the council said in a statement issued on Wednesday night.
Factors that would need to be taken into consideration include how participation in the AIIB might affect Taiwan’s economy and international presence, Wu said.
“There was no discrepancy between Minister Chang and the council’s statement. Overall evaluation is still ongoing,” Wu said.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) declined to comment, saying that the issue is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance and the Mainland Affairs Council.
In Wednesday’s statement, the council said that the government has not yet obtained information related to articles of association of the proposed AIIB and rules governing the bank because they were not made public.
However, the government has been closely following the issue and the interests expressed by neighboring nations in joining the AIIB, the council said.
Meanwhile, South Korea plans to decide by the end of this month on whether it will join the AIIB, South Korean Minister of Finance Choi Kyung-hwan said in Seoul, after the US urged nations to think twice before joining the bank, which Washington sees as a rival to the Western-dominated World Bank.
More than 20 nations, including Germany, France, Italy, the UK and India have decided to participate in the bank, while South Korean officials have remained tight-lipped in recent weeks over Seoul’s possible membership.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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