U.S. should have joined China-led infrastructure bank-Trump adviser

[November 10, 2016]  HONG KONG (Reuters) - A top adviser of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at the Obama administration for failing to embrace the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), suggesting a possible policy shift when Trump takes office in January.

The signboard of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is seen at its headquarter building in Beijing January 17, 2016.REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said that Trump's national security adviser, James Woolsey, called the Obama's administration’s opposition to the formation of the AIIB “a strategic mistake” in a letter to the newspaper.

Woolsey wrote that he hoped the Trump response to the “One Road, One Belt” initiative would be “much warmer”.

China launched the infrastructure bank three years ago to promote economic co-operation among a corridor of countries stretching from Southeast Asia to Europe.

The AIIB was officially launched with 57 countries, including several U.S. allies, such as Britain, Australia and South Korea.

China unveiled its ‘One Road’ blueprint and the establishment of the AIIB after China was excluded from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Pacific Rim trade deal led by the United States but which excluded China.

(Reporting by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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