Yet controversies over China’s initiative have been surfacing ever since the first details of infrastructure financing were made public in late 2014.
For example, the U.S. and Japan responded to China’s AIIB push by refusing to join France, Australia and other western countries as founding members of the bank. That snub highlighted the competition for regional influence that’s pitted AIIB against the U.S.-led World Bank and the Japanese-led Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Underscoring that rivalry was Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s announcement in May that his country would support ADB-funded infrastructure projects with a fresh injection of US$110 billion over the next five years. The announcement coincided with a meeting of AIIB officials in Singapore. Japan’s new funds are expected to boost ADB’s Asia projects pool by 30 percent.
Another controversy surfaced in April when China refused to give an AIIB membership card to Taiwan, which Beijing authorities consider a breakaway Chinese province rather than an independent nation.
Despite the controversies, China has forged ahead with AIIB and OBOR.