Pulling the Plug on Canada’s Membership in the AIIB is a Really Bad Idea
Some in Ottawa are calling for the federal government to unilaterally withhold Canada’s contributions to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a way of punishing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for a variety of actions it has taken domestically and internationally. The proposal is based on a misperception of the bank’s ownership, mission and activities.
Those who want to withhold Canada’s payment seem to think that the AIIB is a proxy for the CCP, and that taking this action would in some way censure China’s leaders. Although creation of AIIB was indeed China’s idea, the institution is not a tool of the CCP or any individual government. It is an inter-governmental organization with 103 members, including all but one of NATO’s founding members. Nearly three-quarters of the bank’s shares are held by members other than Mainland China.
The AIIB began operations five years ago. Its main activity has been making loans to finance physical infrastructure, primarily in low- and middle-income countries in Asia. Developing Asia has a massive financing gap in the transportation, power, telecommunications, and water and sanitation sectors. Hundreds of millions of people living on the continent lack access to affordable basic services taken for granted by most Canadians.
