AIIB won’t get involved in members’ political disputes: bank president

As an international multilateral institution, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) can’t get involved in any political disputes of its members, said AIIB’s incumbent president when asked whether Indian projects were affected by the rising tensions between China and India.

“China and India are the first and second biggest shareholders of AIIB, and they have cooperated quite well (on AIIB projects),” Jin Liqun, AIIB president, said when interviewed by thepaper.cn.

Currently, India holds an 8.6 percent share in AIIB, while China holds a 30.8 percent share.

According to Jin, international multilateral institutions evaluate projects from various perspectives, such as the economy, finance, environmental protection. Everything except politics.

“It’s not surprising that our members sometimes have some conflicts, but we will look forward. AIIB is a platform for cooperation, and is not burdened by certain temporary friction,” he said.

Jin also noted AIIB has a large number of Indian employees, and he hopes AIIB can be a bond linking every member, allowing them to see more common ground rather than being encumbered by temporary conflicts.

He said that when AIIB engaged in a project in India in 2017, there were already doubts among Indian citizens, who questioned why India had to borrow money from a Chinese bank.

Jin made his comments at a time when tensions between China and India have been upgraded over military disputes. India has taken action against local Chinese companies, including bans on 59 apps developed by Chinese firms like TikTok.

Jin also said that AIIB will offer more explanations and undertake necessary publicity work to help people understand AIIB’s work.

Source: Global Times