France,
Germany and Italy on Tuesday announced plans to join the Chinese-led
development bank AIIB, drawing concern in Washington which views the
institution with scepticism.
The three
European countries want "to become founding members of the Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)", they said in a statement.
The $50
billion (47 billion euro) AIIB has been feted by Beijing as a way of financing
regional development, but it is seen as a potential rival to US-based
institutions such as the World Bank.
Washington,
Tokyo and Seoul have declined to become founding members -- but within a week,
Europe's four biggest economies have signalled plans to join.
London on
Thursday announced its ambitions to be the first Western country to join the
bank, in a move to bolster relations with China.
At a joint
press conference with Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai on Tuesday in Berlin, German
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said his country along with Italy and
France "want to bring our long experience ... to help the bank build a
solid reputation".
"We
want to make a contribution to the positive development of the Asian economy,
in which German companies are actively taking part," he said.
But
Europe's move was met with a warning of caution from the United States.
Treasury
Secretary Jacob Lew said Washington's main concern was whether the bank would
"adhere to the kind of high standards that the international financial
institutions have developed".
"Will
it protect the rights of workers, the environment, will it deal with corruption
issues appropriately.
"Our
point all along has been that anyone joining needs to ask those questions at
the outset and I hope before the final commitments are made anyone who lends
their name to this organisation will make sure that the governance is
appropriate," Lew told Congress.
China and
20 other countries signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the
Beijing-headquartered bank in October.
Responding
to reports of European interest in the bank, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman
Hong Lei said: "We welcome countries to join the AIIB as prospective
founding members."
"The
AIIB is an open and inclusive multilateral investment institution," the
spokesman said, adding that "participation by countries outside the region
will intensify the extensive representativeness of the AIIB."
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The dialogue meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Nov. 8.
(Photo/Xinhua)
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