Canada halts ‘government-led activity’ at AIIB amid claims of Chinese Communist Party control
2023.06.15 04:30Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister has announced that the country is immediately ceasing all “government-led activity” at the China-helmed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.The revelation on Wednesday by Chrystia Freeland, Ottawa’s No 2 official, came just hours after the global lender’s senior public relations officer, a Canadian national, resigned amid allegations on social media that key positions at the bank were held by “Communist Party hacks” and that the “Western publics” were not being “served by their membership in AIIB”.“The government of Canada will immediately halt all government-led activity at the bank,” said Freeland, adding that she had instructed finance officials to review Ottawa’s membership in AIIB and claims that the bank is dominated by the Communist Party.“The review I am announcing today is to be undertaken expeditiously,” she said. “And I am not ruling out any outcome following its completion.”AIIB in an official statement de
Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister has announced that the country is immediately ceasing all “government-led activity” at the China-helmed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The revelation on Wednesday by Chrystia Freeland, Ottawa’s No 2 official, came just hours after the global lender’s senior public relations officer, a Canadian national, resigned amid allegations on social media that key positions at the bank were held by “Communist Party hacks” and that the “Western publics” were not being “served by their membership in AIIB”.
“The government of Canada will immediately halt all government-led activity at the bank,” said Freeland, adding that she had instructed finance officials to review Ottawa’s membership in AIIB and claims that the bank is dominated by the Communist Party.
“The review I am announcing today is to be undertaken expeditiously,” she said. “And I am not ruling out any outcome following its completion.”
AIIB in an official statement denied the accusations as “baseless and disappointing”.
The Chinese embassies in Ottawa and Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bob Pickard, AIIB’s global communications director, took to social media platform Twitter to blame the international financial institution for a “toxic culture”.
Pickard feared for his safety, he said, and “left as soon as possible” because “party people run the bank, and my concerns were known, which would not make me very popular there”.
But AIIB disputed his claims, saying that Pickard, who joined in March 2022, had been “supported and empowered” by the bank throughout his tenure to “perform his role”.
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Canada officially joined AIIB in March 2018 to promote “inclusive global economic growth”, according to the Canadian finance ministry’s website.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced opposition from the Conservative Party, a rival to Trudeau’s Liberal Party. The Tories have long demanded that Ottawa pull out of the bank, calling it a tool for Beijing to export authoritarianism.
Regarded by some as a Chinese alternative to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, AIIB was founded in 2016 in Beijing to finance railways and other infrastructure.
It has 106 member governments including most Asian countries as well as Australia, Canada, Russia, France and Britain, Japan and the United States are not members.
“We are proud of our multilateral mission and have a diverse international team representing 65 different nationalities and members,” AIIB said in its statement.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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