The Chinese newspaper reported a Yonhap's diplomatic source as saying that China would allow Russia to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as an ‘Asian’ member with greater voting rights than non-Asian nations.
Russia announced its decision to join the AIIB on March 28.
If that is the case, Russia’s Asian designation would seem to specify a preferred status by Beijing which has been moving closer to Moscow in geopolitical terms.
The establishment of the bank has been approved by a vast majority of countries across the world as the US has failed to restructure the existing institutions such as the IMF in accordance with new geopolitical realities, Laurence Summers, President of Harvard University and former US Secretary of the Treasury, said.
The rules that govern the AIIB have yet to be officially announced by China. According to some reports, AIIB’s Asian members could have 75% of the voting rights, while the remaining 25%would go to non-Asian members.
China and other AIIB members are scheduled to hold another round of meetings in Singapore in May before signing the final ‘Articles of Agreement’ governing the AIIB in June.
