U.S. childish paranoia only weakens ties with China

[Toramana]

Commentary: U.S. childish paranoia only weakens ties with China

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government has once again succumbed to its paranoia over China by voicing almost reflective skepticism and doubt about the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), after Britain announced its bid to join the bank.

Britain on Thursday announced the hope to become the first major Western country to join the Beijing-headquartered AIIB.

The bank was launched in Beijing in 2014 to boost investment in such sectors as transportation, energy and telecommunication.

Britain's announcement, however, received a frosty reception from Washington, which raised concerns about whether the AIIB would have sufficiently high standards on governance, and environmental and social safeguards.

The response of the U.S. government exhibited nothing but a childish paranoia towards China, which, however, is not quite surprising, as Washington has indulged itself in that distrusting mind-set for years.

Some U.S. politicians tend to see every move China has made with deep suspicion. Sometimes they just could not restrain the urge to make carping and irresponsible comments when it comes to issues related with the rapidly emerging Asian country.

They tend to turn a habitual blind eye to the constructive efforts made by China, and there is no exception when it comes to the country's initiative on building the Silk Road Economic Zone and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road brought up in 2013 as well as the Silk Road Fund designed for financing the initiative.

It seems that the U.S. government needs to be reminded that bias and a deep-rooted strategic distrust towards China are by no means helpful in forging a healthy relationship with the country.

And such deep suspicion, or paranoia, could only prevent the two countries from narrowing down their differences and expanding cooperation in various fields, and eventually jeopardize efforts in building a new type of major-country relations.

It's imperative for Washington to change its mind-set and get rid of the China paranoia.

After all, what the two countries really need is a new model of mutually beneficial relationship featured by cooperation and win-win results, which could bring tangible benefits to the peoples of both nations.

And that could only be achieved through hard works, joint efforts and, more importantly, mutual trust.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-03/13/c_134065036.htm

[Toramana]

Support for China-led development bank grows despite US opposition

Australia indicates it could join UK, New Zealand as founding member of Asia Infrastructure Development Bank, which Washington views with suspicion

Support for a Chinese-led development bank is growing despite US opposition, with Australia indicating that it could join the UK and New Zealand as a founding member.

Analysts predicted that others would follow Britain’s surprise decision to put its weight behind the new $50bn ($34bn) institution, despite the US making its irritation clear in an unusual public rebuke.

“Now the US’s closest ally has been emboldened to do this, there’s very little reason for others not to, because the rubicon has been crossed. If you’re looking at South Korea and Australia, it’s a bit of a no-brainer,” said Stephen Spratt, a research fellow at the UK-based Institute of Development Studies .

The Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) , which is designed to provide funds to the Asia-Pacific region, is viewed with suspicion in Washington, where it is seen as a rival to the World Bank and a possible instrument of Chinese soft power in the region.

One US official told the Financial Times: “We are wary about a trend toward constant accommodation of China, which is not the best way to engage a rising power.”

But a spokesman for the British prime minister brushed aside US criticism, telling reporters: “There will be times when we take a different approach … We think that it’s in the UK’s national interest.”

In Australia, the country’s finance minister said the UK and New Zealand decisions reflected improvements in the governance structure China was proposing.

“This is something that will obviously be taken into account by the government over the next few weeks as we continue our dialogue with those people behind the bank,” Treasurer Joe Hockey said.

The US has reportedly lobbied Australia, South Korea and others to steer clear of the new institution. But 28 countries are planning to participate, with Indonesia also among those joining early enthusiasts such as India, Pakistan and Singapore. The deadline to become a founding member is the end of this month.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said Beijing welcomed the UK decision, adding that the AIIB would complement existing development banks.

Zhao Changhui, a senior economist with the Export-Import Bank of China , said China proposed the AIIB because it understood the importance of infrastructure in light of its own development; it had a huge surplus while many countries in the region lacked the funds they needed for infrastructure; and it knew that restoring the health of the global economy would require large scale crossborder trade and investment.

But he added: “The founding of AIIB is a challenge to the US’s economical and political dominance. It’s also a challenge to the establishments controlled by the US, such as the World Bank.”

Some have suggested that AIIB is designed to compete with the US- and Japan-dominated Asia Development Bank (ADB).

“China has tonnes of dollars in reserves and this seems like a good use,” said Stephany Griffith-Jones, an expert on development banks at Columbia University in New York.

“There’s an estimated $1tn of need in infrastructure and sustainable development [in emerging and developing countries]. In a way, the more, the better … If countries are not happy [with the AIIB], they can still go to the World Bank or ADB.”

Among the unmet needs are an estimated 1.4 billion people without access to electricity, the billion without clean drinking water and 2.6 billion without access to sanitation.

Griffith-Jones added that British involvement would also allow the UK to help shape the institution – tbut given that China is providing most of the cash, it is unclear how much influence other countries will wield. She suggested that in terms of governance it might have been better if China were not providing quite so much of the funding.

Beijing is also a major player in the New Development Bank being set up by the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – and is providing $40bn for the new Silk Road Fund to improve connectivity across Asia.

The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, told a news conference: “From the perspective simply of the need for more infrastructure spending, there’s no doubt that from our perspective, we welcome the entry of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.”

The White House national security council said the US agreed there was a pressing need to enhance infrastructure investment, but had concerns about whether the AIIB would meet “the high standards, particularly related to governance, and environmental and social safeguards” of the World Bank and regional development banks.

Spratt said: “People have been criticising the World Bank on exactly the same issues for decades and through all of that flak there’s been significant learning.

“The new multilateral organisations do have a lot to learn from the World Bank and regional development banks on the environmental and social side - but [the existing institutions] probably have quite a lot to learn from places like China in terms of how to deal with rapid infrastructure building and so on.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/13/support-china-led-development-bank-grows-despite-us-opposition-australia-uk-new-zealand-asia

[Toramana]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_zEc8d6jVU

[Toramana]

It sounds that more and more countries are trying to distance themselves from US global political and economic policies. Of late, Germany, Italy, and France have decided to join the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank. Australia and Korea are seriously weighing the option -also Newziland.

Does this point to the future multi-polar economic world?

[Toramana]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/17/us-europe-asia-bank-idUSKBN0MD0B320150317

(Reuters) - The United States urged countries on Tuesday to think twice about signing up to a new China-led Asian development bank that Washington sees as a rival to the World Bank, after Germany, France and Italy followed Britain in saying they would join.

The concerted move by U.S. allies to participate in Beijing's flagship economic outreach project is a diplomatic blow to the United States and its efforts to counter the fast-growing economic and diplomatic influence of China.

Europe's participation reflects the eagerness to partner with China's economy, the world's second largest, and comes amid prickly trade negotiations between Brussels and Washington.

European Union and Asian governments are frustrated that the U.S. Congress has held up a reform of voting rights in the International Monetary Fund that would give China and other emerging powers more say in global economic governance.

Washington insists it has not actively discouraged countries from joining the new bank, but it has questioned whether the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will have sufficient standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards.

"I hope before the final commitments are made anyone who lends their name to this organization will make sure that the governance is appropriate," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told U.S. lawmakers.

Lew warned the Republican-dominated Congress that China and other rising powers were challenging American leadership in global financial institutions, and he urged lawmakers to swiftly ratify stalled reform of the IMF.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble announced at a joint news conference with visiting Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai that Germany, Europe's biggest economy and a major trade partner of Beijing, would be a founding member of the AIIB.

In a joint statement, the foreign and finance ministers of Germany, France and Italy said they would work to ensure the new institution "follows the best standards and practices in terms of governance, safeguards, debt and procurement policies."

Luxembourg’s Finance Ministry confirmed the country, a big financial center, has also applied to be a founding member of the $50 billion AIIB.

The AIIB was launched in Beijing last year to spur investment in Asia in transportation, energy, telecommunications and other infrastructure. It was seen as a rival to the Western-dominated World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. China has said it will use the best practices of those institutions.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, endorsed member states' participation in the AIIB as a way of tackling global investment needs and as an opportunity for EU companies.

The World Bank is traditionally run by a U.S. nominee and Washington also has the most influence at the IMF.

The adjustment of shares and voting rights in the IMF was brokered by Britain at a Group of 20 summit in 2010, and European countries ratified it long ago.

Lew told lawmakers that the U.S. delay in ratifying the agreement was undermining its credibility and influence as countries question the United States' commitment to international institutions.

“It's not an accident that emerging economies are looking at other places because they are frustrated that, frankly, the United States has stalled a very mild and reasonable set of reforms in the IMF,” Lew said.

The reforms would double the fund's resources and hand more IMF voting power to countries such as the BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Some Republicans have complained the changes would cost too much at a time Washington is running big budget deficits. The reforms have also ran afoul of a growing isolationist trend among the party's influential Tea Party wing.

"HIGH WATERMARK"

China said earlier this year a total of 26 countries had been included as AIIB founder members, mostly from Asia and the Middle East. It plans to finalize the articles of agreement by the end of the year.

China's state-owned Xinhua news agency said South Korea and Switzerland were also considering joining.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei would not comment on which countries had applied, and repeated that the bank would be "open, inclusive, transparent and responsible."

Washington says it sees a role for the IAAB given Asia's immense infrastructure needs and regards it as a potential partner for established institutions like the ADB.

But its strategy of questioning the IAAB's standards has drawn criticism from some observers, who say the administration should have been more accepting of the new bank or offered alternatives within the existing institutions.

"If you try to fight the rising power's peaceful ascent you sow big problems in the future," said Fred Bergsten, a former top international affairs official at the U.S. Treasury and currently a fellow at the Peterson Institute in Washington.

Scott Morris, a former U.S. Treasury official who led U.S. engagement with the multilateral development banks during the first Obama administration, said Washington was paying the price for delay on IMF reform.

"It's a clear sentiment among a pretty diverse group of countries: We would like to mobilize more capital for infrastructure through MDBs (multilateral development banks)," said Morris, now with the Washington-based Center for Global Development.

"And the U.S. stands in the way of that and now finds itself increasingly isolated as a result.”

A government official in India, which also has joined, said the members of the AIIB would meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on March 29-31 to discuss the articles of agreement.

China has said March 31 is the deadline for accepting founder-members into the organization.

Japan, Australia and South Korea remain notable regional absentees from the AIIB. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at the weekend he would make a final decision on membership soon. South Korea has said it is still in discussions with China and other countries about possible participation.

Japan is unlikely to join the AIIB, but ADB head Takehiko Nakao told the Nikkei Asian Review that the two institutions were in discussions and could work together.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Anna Yukhananov, and Douwe Miedema in Washington; Yann Le Guernigou and Marine Pennetier in Paris; Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin; James Mackenzie in Rome; Ju-min Park in Seoul; Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Manoj Kumar in Delhi; and Leika Kihara in Tokyo; Writing by Paul Taylor and Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Gareth Jones and Leslie Adler)

[Toramana]

Japan should influence the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank from within

Japan should influence the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank from within
18 March 2015
Authors: Tomoo Kikuchi and Takehiro Masutomo, NUS

Japan should seriously consider joining the new China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), regardless of the scheme’s detractors within the country.

The AIIB was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. Beijing signed up 21 founding member nations in October 2014. More detailed negotiations over the governance structure are expected to be completed when the bank is officially launched by the end of 2015.



A former Japanese high-ranking diplomat predicts that the AIIB may fail due to its poor practices and unprofitable projects. He likened the bank to a subprime lender giving out concessionary loans to customers with poor track records but high needs.

But this is not necessarily the case. Japan needs to realise that it has little political clout to block the new bank. The United States reportedly pressured its allies not to join the Chinese initiative. But following Indonesia and New Zealand’s decision to sign up, the once-hesitant Australia is now willing to join and South Korea is seriously considering doing so.

Japan has reservations about joining the AIIB in part because it potentially reduces the influence of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), whose head has always come from its Ministry of Finance or the Bank of Japan. Japan and the US are the largest shareholders of the ADB.

The US and Japan could have put more effort in through the World Bank and the IMF to accommodate the interests of China, and to make the ADB less dominated by Japan. By failing to reflect the voices of emerging economies, these institutions risk of being marginalised in the long run.

When the Asian financial crisis hit the region in 1997, Japan proposed the establishment of an Asian Monetary Fund, but failed in the face of strong opposition from Washington.

Subsequently, Asian countries worked to deepen cross-border financial cooperation. The regional financial markets are growing but are still too underdeveloped to be able to effectively channel the savings glut to where development is needed within Asia.

Now that the AIIB is set to emerge, Japan can and should try to exert its due influence from within. Singapore, the only advanced economy among the AIIB’s founding members, hopes that with Japan it can jointly carry some weight within the governance structure.

The Chinese model of infrastructure building as development assistance has not only met backlash in Africa, but has also led to disruptions to projects like the Myitsone Dam in Myanmar. Not being a member of the OECD, China is not bound by the stringent conditions and safeguards of its Development Assistance Committee.

To this end, Japan could assist by facilitating best practice in the AIIB in the fields of environmental protection, relocation of displaced peoples, employment creation and human rights.

The macroeconomic environment surrounding the AIIB must also be examined. China’s broader aims include reducing production overcapacity at home, enhancing the liquidity of offshore yuan, promoting the ‘going out’ of domestic firms and employing its huge foreign exchange reserves to acquire assets overseas.

The outflow of foreign direct investment by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is worrisome as the average return is well below that of private firms and even substantially less than the cost of capital, especially for infrastructure-related sectors. The AIIB’s investment in these sectors may proliferate the inefficient practice of SOEs outside China.

China has been swift to respond to huge and acute infrastructure needs in the developing world, in contrast with the lengthy project processes required by other lenders.

But local governments in Asian countries may demand funding for projects to further their political interests. China’s financing approach, coupled with unscrupulous motives on the part of recipients, may not be conducive to channeling capital towards sustainable development in the region.

Japan’s participation in the AIIB would also promote its own infrastructure business through access to the information and resources within the AIIB.

The Japanese government has been pushing the export of package-type infrastructure, in which domestic firms are involved in everything from designing to financing, since 2010.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to continue this effort and triple the export of infrastructure-related business to 30 trillion yen (about US$247 billion) annually by 2020, with a strategic focus on power stations and high-speed rail.

On the financial front, the Japanese Exchange Group aims to be Asia’s infrastructure hub. Meanwhile, Japanese commercial banks are expanding into the Asian region and gaining strength in project finance.

World leaders at the G20 Summit in Brisbane in 2014 recognised infrastructure demand in the developing world as a new source of global growth in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Based on an ADB estimate, infrastructure demand in Asia through 2010–2020 will be US$8 trillion, which is far beyond the capacity of the ADB. The launch of the AIIB can be seen as evidence that China is finally stepping up to become a responsible global stakeholder.

The relationship between Japan and China has worsened in the past few years. Putting historical and territorial issues aside, the AIIB presents a great opportunity for the two largest Asian powers to cooperate in the economic sphere, so as to provide public goods to the broader Asian region.

Tomoo Kikuchi is Senior Research Fellow, and Takehiro Masutomo, Research Associate, at the Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

A version of this article was first published here in The Straits Times on 3 February 2015.

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2015/03/18/japan-should-influence-the-asian-infrastructure-investment-bank-from-within/

[Toramana]

So US opposed the creation of Asian Monetary Fund . It seems US cannot see other nations in leading roles and to be self-reliant except itself and others in the "WHITE" hemi-sphere)of course excluding Russia).

[Bengal_Tiger]

So US opposed the creation of Asian Monetary Fund . It seems US cannot see other nations in leading roles and to be self-reliant except itself and others in the "WHITE" hemi-sphere)of course excluding Russia).

White westerners pay lip service to racial equality and to a superficial extent even some of the supposedly liberal ones believe in it.

However scratch deeper or if things get a tad bit more serious/critical many revert to a natural inherent belief in white domination.

For them non-whites, "darkies" being too powerful is an aberration and is unnatural.

The Anglo-sphere is just one section of the white west but the ruling faction and by far the most powerful primarily due to the USA.

White elites including Anglo-Saxons believe that a world dominated by non-whites is wrong and in their own perverted bizarre way "immoral". They can't state this openly but use rhetoric such as "national security", "democracy" etc.

However whether the USA and the west like it or not - and they don't - white hegemony of the globe is going to end.

You can invade Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya but you cannot attack a nuclear power like India, China or Russia.

Well done to you Toramana Lala for acting as apositive and constructive influence on this forum unlike abusive and disruptive American trolls like American-Arab, Mahmood Al-Yemeni (Brown Skinned Savage a.k.a RevolutionThroughReason). You have consistently posted articles related to the very important changes taking place in front of our eyes in the global world order.

De-dollarization is the main thing which will ultimately remove the American regime's ability to terrorize other nations militarily.

However that de-dollarization can only take place due to the fact that militarily, China, India and Russia are untouchable (in frontal military terms).

Already countries like Germany, France and Britain are becoming a bit more independent of the US and enacting foreign policy decisions that go against US wishes.

[Toramana]

Europe Not Afraid to Defy US in Asian Adventure

As a trio of European countries have followed the UK's lead and decided to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a move seen as defiant by the US, former Italian MEP explained that the countries don’t want to miss the opportunity to pursue profitable and secured investments in the most dynamically developing region in the world.

“The US government has involved so much effort and means not to let Europe participate in what Washington presents as a 'trap'”, the Italian journalist, politician and former MEP Giulietto Chiesa told Sputnik.
But, as they say in London, “business is business,' and the European countries don’t want to miss the opportunity, he added. China already dominates in the development of Asian infrastructure, transport, and energy. Investments in the area alongside such a partner will most likely be very profitable and well-secured. Therefore, Britain chose to enter the game. Germany, France and Italy are watching intently.
“Russia does not make its deep interest in the joint financial enterprise a secret,” he said. “If you just look at Siberia and especially Russia’s Far East, you’ll see that AIIB will most likely become the key tool in facilitating and attracting foreign investment from all over the world which could be 'secured' by China.

Besides, it is also apparent that all the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will join in, with Iran also considering stepping in.”
It Won’t be Easy for the US to Deal With Competitor of Such Caliber
It won’t be easy for the US to deal with a competitor of such a caliber, Giulietto Chiesa added.
It's a sober fact that the last episode only proves the obvious – China is a new point of attraction for world finance, a center of gravity that is constantly changing Asia. And it is impossible to stop this ‘shift of power’, the politician stated.
The former MEP explained that the crisis of the Western economy, including that of the US, regardless of its growth, is artificial in nature; more often the finances are cut off from the production of commodities and services. Asia has taken the place of developed nations in the “material production” of amenities, at least from a mid-term prospective.
Therefore China has also stepped in, and the US plans to revise the rules of international trade, as is now being discussed at the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) negotiations, which he claims are forced. These, he says, are aimed at forcing Europe to follow a path which is in America's interests and controlled by the US.


In the US, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was instantly positioned as a competitor to the Asian Development Bank, an English-American financial agent, which in tandem with the World Bank set the tone in Asia for decades, he said.
The Chinese government, standing its ground, has undertaken one strategic initiative after another.
Just as a quick reminder: in December 2013 Beijing created its own credit rating agency. Standard&Poors, Moody's and Fitch found themselves face to face with a new competitor, Dagong, the purpose of which is to deprive the “big troika” of its role as the final authority in defining the financial “health” of different states and transnational corporations. The emergence of the AIIB has the similar intentions
On Tuesday, France, Germany and Italy all agreed to follow Britain’s lead and join a China-led international development bank, according to European officials, delivering a blow to US efforts to keep leading Western countries out of the new institution.
The decision by the three European governments came after Britain announced last week that it would join the $50bn Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a potential rival to the Washington-based World Bank.
Australia, a key US ally in the Asia-Pacific region which had come under pressure from Washington to stay out of the new bank, has also said that it will now rethink that position.


Read more: http://sputniknews.com/business/2015...#ixzz3Us37DYIA