A former head of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Thursday accused the Chinese Communist Party of exerting “excessive” influence on the institution which he said serves “the interests” of Beijing, which pushed Canada to freeze its cooperation with the organization.
Bob Pickard, former head of communications for the BAAI (AIIB in English) made the sensational accusations after resigning this week and leaving China hastily out of fear for his safety, he explained to AFP.
Speaking from Tokyo, the 58-year-old Canadian said that this organization, which brings together 106 states including France, Germany or Australia, was dominated by members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and mainly financed projects of interest to Beijing.
“It is a resource for the geopolitical purposes of the PRC (People’s Republic of China) […] in practice, I think it serves China’s interests,” Pickard said.
The Beijing-based bank has directed its lending mainly to countries covered by China’s Belt and Road initiative, also known as the Belt and Road, the former official said.
“These are not disconnected projects, the Belt and Road Initiative and the BAAI […] these are similar types of countries that China is trying to nurture politically,” he added.
“transparent” institution
The BAAI deemed these accusations “baseless and disappointing”, saying it was “proud of (its) multilateral mission”, and Beijing defended the “transparency” of the institution.
“The AIIB respects the principles of openness, meritocracy and transparency in the recruitment and management of its workforce,” Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy, said Thursday at a press briefing.
” Since its creation […] the AIIB has enabled significant achievements […] which have been widely recognized by the international community,” Wang said.
Created in 2016, the bank aims to finance infrastructure projects in Asia, with a view to countering Western influence at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The United States refused to join, citing concerns about its governance and transparency.
Mr Pickard claimed he was warned, after joining the bank in March 2022, “not to tangle with party members […] because they are powerful,” and said he raised concerns about their role and influence a month ago, in writing.
“The response was, in essence, ‘Don’t venture into that territory.’ »
According to the former communications manager, “there are a lot of frontline foreign executives in the management”. Inside, “there is a parallel system, it is adjacent to the public decision-making structure,” he added.
Ottawa freezes cooperation
Following her resignation, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that Ottawa “will immediately cease all activities within the Bank”.
Her ministry, she added, will be responsible for “promptly investigating the allegations raised and Canada’s involvement in the BAAI’s activities”.
Mr. Pickard said he was “pleased that the government of (his) country is taking seriously the problem of the CCP’s lack of transparency and excessive influence on what is supposed to be a multilateral organization”.
“I think the Canadian government will realize that ultimately the interests of this bank do not coincide with the interests of our country. »
“Why is Canada participating in an organization that ultimately makes China more powerful? he wondered.
For several years, Sino-Canadian relations have been tense, especially since the Huawei crisis caused by the arrest in 2018 of Meng Wanzhou, the group’s financial director, followed by the imprisonment in China of two Canadian citizens.
New tensions have recently peaked following revelations about the presence of underground Chinese police stations on Canadian soil and allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections.
The AIIB has faced similar accusations in the past. In 2017, its then vice-president, Thierry de Longuemar, retorted that the bank was not “an instrument of the Chinese state”.