Power struggle: Over 20 countries on ‘waiting list’ to join AIIB

US and Japan have notably declined to join the AIIB

SINGAPORE:

More than 20 countries are waiting to join the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), its designated president said Saturday, as he allayed concerns it was aimed to challenge US and Japanese influence in the region.

The number could bring the AIIB on par with or even surpass membership in the Japan-led Asian Development Bank (ADB), which currently has 67 members, 19 of them outside of the Asia Pacific, according to its website.

“We have 57 countries (which are potential founding members) and to my knowledge ... more than 20 countries are on the waiting list,” AIIB president-designate Jin Liqun told delegates of the Singapore Summit conference, without naming them.

“That makes it more than 70. I’m sure there will be more countries which will be interested,” added Jin, a former Chinese vice finance minister who was put forward by Beijing. The US and Japan - the world’s largest and third-largest economies, respectively - have notably declined to join the AIIB although they are members of the ADB, but Jin said the door is open to both.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2015.

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