Beijing May Not Allow Taiwan to Join AIIB to Avoid 'Two Chinas' Situation

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — China may not allow Taiwan to join the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the country's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a briefing Tuesday.

"As for Taiwan joining [the AIIB], we maintain that we should avoid the 'two Chinas' and 'one China, one Taiwan' situation," Chunying said, as quoted by Business Times.

According to the media outlet, Beijing frequently affirms the importance of its "one China" policy and cuts short Taiwanese involvement in international deals, as it considers the island to be a territory-in-waiting for reunification.

Earlier in the day, Taiwanese presidential spokesman Charles I-hsin Chen expressed Taipei's desire to join the bank.

The AIIB is an international financial institution hosted by China to invest in infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region. A bill establishing the bank with a registered capital of up to $100 billion was signed by 21 countries in October 2014.

The new regional bank has raised concern in Washington as a potential competitor of Western-led financial institutions. As many as 45 states made applications for membership. Norway, Russia and Spain are among the countries who applied to join the bank, while the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany, among others, have already joined the organization.

Earlier Tuesday, China reportedly rejected North Korea's application.