|
 Fairfax Media citing government sources, reported the federal
cabinet has approved Australia signing a "memorandum of
understanding" on joining the AIIB.
Australia, South Korea and Japan are the notable regional absentees
from the bank, which the United States had warned against. Despite
Washington's misgivings, U.S. allies Britain, France, Germany and
Italy announced this month they would join the bank, leading the
Obama administration to reassess its stance.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that China had proposed
to forgo veto power at the AIIB to attract more countries to join
the new bank.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday
that each country's stake in the AIIB would decrease as new member
countries are brought into the organization.
She dismissed the notion that Beijing sought - or gave up - veto
power as an "impossible proposition".
The AIIB has been seen as a significant and possibly historic
setback to U.S. efforts to extend its influence in the Asia Pacific
region to balance China's growing financial clout and assertiveness.
Although Australia is a vital part of Washington's strategic "pivot"
toward Asia, it is close to joining as well.
"We are certainly well and truly disposed to joining something which
is in fact a genuinely multilateral institution with transparent
governance, clear accountability and with major decisions made by
the board," Abbott told reporters.
"That is really 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,"
he said at a news conference in Canberra.
Japan, however, is cautious about joining while South Korea has said
it is yet to decide.
Tokyo "does not need to sign in" on joining the bank unless China
lays out clear rules on when and what conditions it will provide
loans, Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday.
Japan is hesitant to join out of concern over China-led lending
practices, Tokyo's relations with Washington and the AIIB's
potential rivalry with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the
Manila-based multilateral institution dominated by Japan and the
United States.
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But ADB chief Takehiko Nakao said his institution could cooperate
with the AIIB and co-finance projects if standards for loans were
met.
"When it is formally established, co-financing would be a major way
of complementing ... We'd like to proceed with co-financing" and
other ways of cooperation, Nakao, a former Japanese vice finance
minister for international affairs, told a news conference in Tokyo.
By custom, the ADB is headed by a former senior official from the
Bank of Japan or the country's finance ministry.
The World Bank has also said it is discussing cooperation with the
AIIB.
Abbott said he has discussed the matter with U.S. President Barack
Obama and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and would continue
talking to them.
Speaking to the Australia China Business Council, Treasurer Joe
Hockey said it was important to secure the country's best interest
in a well governed bank that will work to promote greater
infrastructure and growth in the region.
"If well designed, the AIIB could play a key role in helping to
address the region's acute infrastructure needs. In order to do this
we will need a strong and well governed AIIB," he said.
"It is early days for the AIIB, but China has made strong progress
on governance so far. The proposed governance arrangements will be
modelled on international best practice."
(Reporting by Ian Chua in SYDNEY, Tetsushi Kajimoto in TOKYO;
Additional reporting by Gerry Shih in BEIJING; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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