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 France, Germany and Italy have agreed to follow Britain's lead and
join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Financial
Times reported, quoting European officials.
The newspaper said the decision by the four countries to become
members of the AIIB was a major diplomatic setback for Washington,
which has questioned if the new bank will have high standards of
governance and environmental and social safeguards.
The bank is also seen as contributing to the spread of China's "soft
power" in the region, possibly at the expense of the United States.
EU parliament president Martin Schulz said he welcomed the four
European nations joining the AIIB, but added the bank must conform
to internationally accepted standards.
"I find it good that they join," he told reporters while on a visit
to Beijing. "If more member states would join I would find it even
better.
"There is one additional element. Such new organizations must answer
to the requirements of international standards. That is quite
important."
China's state-owned Xinhua news agency said South Korea, Switzerland
and Luxembourg were also considering joining.
However, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei would not
comment on which countries had applied to join, and repeated that
the bank would be "open, inclusive, transparent and responsible".
On Tuesday, Washington's top diplomat for east Asia signaled that
concerns about the AIIB remained, but the decision on whether to
join was up to individual nations.
"Our messaging to the Chinese consistently has been to welcome
investment in infrastructure but to seek unmistakable evidence that
this bank...takes as its starting point the high watermark of what
other multilateral development banks have done in terms of
governance," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and
Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel said in Seoul.
"Every government can make its own decision about whether the way to
achieve that goal is by joining before the articles of agreement are
clarified or by waiting to see what the evidence looks like as the
bank starts to operate," he told reporters.
WORLD BANK RIVAL
The AIIB was launched in Beijing last year to spur investment in
Asia in transportation, energy, telecommunications and other
infrastructure. It was seen as a rival to the Western-dominated
World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
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China said earlier this year a total of 26 countries had been
included as founder members, mostly from Asia and the Middle East.
It plans to finalize the articles of agreement by the end of the
year.
A finance ministry official in India, one of the countries that has
joined, said the members of the AIIB would meet in Almaty,
Kazakhstan, on March 29-31 to discuss the articles of agreement.
China has said March 31 is the deadline for accepting
founder-members into the organization.
Japan, Australia and South Korea remain notable regional absentees
from the AIIB, although Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said
at the weekend he would make a final decision on AIIB membership
soon.
South Korea has said it is still in discussions with China and other
countries about its possible participation.
Japan, China's main regional rival, has the biggest shareholding in
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) along with the United States and
the Manila-based bank is headed by a Japanese, by convention.
Japan is unlikely to join the China-backed bank, but the head of the
ADB, Takehiko Nakao, told the Nikkei Asian Review that the two
institutions were in discussions and could cooperate.
"We've begun sharing our experience and know-how," Nakao was quoted
as saying.
"Once the AIIB has actually been established, it's conceivable that
we would cooperate," he said.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park in SEOUL, Michael Martina and Ben
Blanchard in BEIJING, Manoj Kumar in NEW DELHI and Leika Kihara in
TOKYO; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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