Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release Friday, 20 March 2015

Craig Isherwood‚ National Secretary
PO Box 376‚ COBURG‚ VIC 3058
Phone: 1800 636 432
Email: cec@cecaust.com.au
Website: http://cec.cecaust.com.au

China rejects geopolitics, calls on ‘isolated’ US to join AIIB

The official Chinese newspaper Global Times, in an 18 March editorial, strongly reasserted China’s effort to get the US to join, not counter, the Silk Road and AIIB initiatives. The editorial said:

“The China-initiated AIIB has met with US resistance since the very beginning… But China will not turn the issues around the AIIB into a gamble between China and the US. China will not respond to such speculation that its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative is a countermeasure to the US pivot to Asia strategy. An approach that sets the US as an adversary is contrary to China’s doctrine.”

The editorial notes that the AIIB “fits the interests of most countries. The US tries to contain it with a geopolitical mind-set, but it lacks a strong case.… As long as China seeks joint development and this is not aimed at the US, the world will eventually understand it and cooperate with it. The favourable news about the AIIB points to a promising future for the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.… Perhaps the US may become a member of the AIIB one day. As China develops smoothly, this is not that impossible.”

Also on 18 March, Xinhua published an article titled: “Washington, What Are You Waiting For?” It begins: “Welcome Germany! Welcome France! Welcome Italy! Despite a petulant and cynical Washington, the three leading European powers decided to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) headquartered in Beijing on Tuesday.”

They write that this “sends clear signals to the whole world, and particularly to the United States, who is trying to forge an anti-AIIB front within its allies,” noting that the euro countries which are joining demonstrate an “international community bound together by interdependence, win-win cooperation, rather than self-concerned fulfillment,” while the US stance of “holding sour grapes over the AIIB makes America look isolated and hypocritical.”

The article concludes: “Unlike the US-led TPP negotiation which excludes China, the AIIB is open to all interested parties, including the United States. So Washington, what are you waiting for?”

The same applies to Australia: Mr Abbott, what are you waiting for?

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