Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday said that he supported the proposed development of a Chinese-led Asian regional bank — as long as it was transparent and not run by a single nation.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which is expected to be established by the end of the year, has raised concerns in Washington that it would compete with international lenders such as the World Bank.
Abbott said he was having ongoing conservations with US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — both close strategic allies — about the proposed bank.
Photo: Bloomberg
“What is proposed by China and now joined by many other countries could serve a very useful purpose because we have a massive infrastructure deficit in this country and in our region in the wider world, and a new multilateral bank to fund infrastructure, particularly in our region, could play a really important part for good in the years and decades to come,” Abbott told reporters.
“So we are certainly well and truly disposed to joining something which is in fact a genuinely multilateral institution with transparent governance, with clear accountability and with major decisions made by the board,” Abbott said. “That is really, I guess, the fundamental thing for us: Would major decisions be made by the board and is it going to be a multilateral institution rather than one that is controlled by any one country?”
Australia is expected join the bank as early as this week, with Abbott to explain his government’s position before a final decision is made, the Australian newspaper reported yesterday.
Chinese Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei (樓繼偉) said the AIIB would complement rather than compete with established international lenders, Xinhua news agency reported last week.
Like other regional investment vehicles, such as the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the AIIB would not weaken established institutions, but reinforce them and “more vigorously push forward the global economy,” Lou was quoted as saying.
Lou said other nations would be welcome to join even after a deadline expires on Tuesday next week.
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