A global plan for a regional projec
17/11/14
Twenty one Asian countries signed the
Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of Asia Infrastructure
Investment Bank (AIIB) recently which has become hot leitmotiv for
international media because the project is not simply assessed at regional
level, it is also as an important content of the global plan of China.
There is little information about AIIB
excepting AIIB’s headquartered is in Beijing
with most of the initial investment capital from China. Reportedly, AIIB will have a
charter capital up to 100 billion USD and the initial registered capital is
estimated at 50 billion USD. AIIB functionate to provide financing for the
construction of roads, railways, power plants and necessary telecommunications
networks for the development of the regional economy. Under the plan, AIIB will
officially come in to sign in late 2015 after the founding shareholders approve
and sign the terms of the agreement.
China has stated clearly the proposal of AIIB’s
establishment is to give full play to the potential in terms of building
infrastructure in Asia-Pacific, meet the huge demand in terms of raising
capital for investment projects in infrastructure of the concerned countries. The
initiative of establishing AIIB was made by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) in 2013 which was said to be aim
at reducing reliance on the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in investment projects in infrastructure
development. These are the international financial institutions China joined
but only play a limited role in comparison with dominant role of the US and Europe
in the World Bank, IMF or Japan in ADB. Previously, China was in open intention to play
a more important role in these international financial institutions.
Moreover, with a huge number of capital its
functions as stated above, AIIB is quite attractive to the countries in the
region which need to invest capital for developing infrastructure to serve
economic development projects. Most founding members are developing countries
in Asia, only few strong economies was firmly established itself as India, Singapore
and China.
Meanwhile, AIIB are assessed as able to play a significant role in the
development of infrastructure in Asia-Pacific because AIIB chose a relatively
new approach in comparison with the WB or ADB which focus on the field of
hunger eradication and poverty reduction. In fact, even the World Bank
President, Mr. Im Yong Kim also said that AIIB would be good partners for
investing in global infrastructure.
According to experts, AIIB have the
opportunity to grow because demand for infrastructure development in Asian
developing countries is huge. Estimated, the Asia-Pacific region needs about 800
billion USD per year for investment in this sector by 2020.
Potential development of such AIIB with a
prominent role of Beijing in this institution is
expected to threaten the influential role of Washington
to the region in the context of the US government is implementing
policy to the Asia-Pacific region.
Besides, the AIIB’s project has been far
reaching out of the region and became part of a global plan by China
to reshape global financial structure to ensure the power and benefits of this
country. Along with establishing AIIB, Beijing
also promote the establishment of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific
(FTAAP). If it is formed, the FTAAP would become a free trade area by the
world's largest which account for 40% of the total world population, nearly 50%
of the volume of trade and over 50% of global GDP. Initiative of forming AIIB
was supposed to aim at a new trade route with Europe
with the name “New Silk Road”. Among the projects that AIIB will fund including
railway links Beijing to Baghdad, Iraq.
So, Washington is undesirable appearance of
this financial institution which rules the new challenges posed by the United States
as AIIB.
However, the US
is expected to be unable to stop Beijing’s
plan of officially launch AIIB. Australia, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia did
not sign in the original memorandum does not mean that these countries will
refuse to participate altogether AIIB in the period up to 2015 when the bank is
officially established. Meanwhile, China
has not stopped its campaign to expand the number of members involved in the
project, especially enlist international forums such as the 22nd Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Beijing.
All comments [ 10 ]
It can only be encouraging that China has launched some sort of ‘rival’ in Asia, to the World Bank, so that China can have a greater influence in world affairs.
After all, there is a huge contrast between China who prefer to build roads with local populations in foreign countries, while the long racist US & EU colonialists prefer to drop bombs and spread diseases like smallpox and Ebola to exterminate indigenous populations.
Of course, if the AAIB does provide a real alternative to the execrable World Bank and IMF it should flourish.
What is abundantly clear is that the US and EU ‘governments’ lie totally discredited, when they utter the words...'human rights', as their reason to oppose the AAIB.
China's $50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is seen as a challenge to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, both of which count Washington and its allies as their biggest financial backers.
China, which is keen to extend its influence and soft power in the region, has limited voting rights in these existing banks despite being the world's second-largest economy...
South Korea, one of Washington's strongest diplomatic allies in Asia, has yet to say it will formally participate in the bank.
We have continued to demand rationality in areas such as governance and safeguard issues, and there's no reason (for Korea) not to join it.
While Korea has been dropped from the list of founding members of the AIIB this time around, it is still in a deep dilemma on what sort of strategic choices it has to make as China challenges the U.S.-led international order.
When US & EU ‘politics’ and ’news’ media lamely claim they support ‘human rights’ there is not a reasonable or rational person in the entire world who believes them or indeed has any reason to believe them.
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