China Rejects Geopolitics, Calls on ‘Isolated’ U.S. To Join AIIB

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

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

The editorial notes that the AIIB

“fits the interests of most countries. The U.S. 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 U.S., the world will eventually understand it and cooperate with it. The favorable news about the AIIB points to a promising future for the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative…. Perhaps the U.S. may become a member of the AIIB one day. As China develops smoothly, this is not that impossible.”

Also yesterday, Xinhua published an article titled: “So, 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 AIIB headquartered in Beijing on Tuesday.”

They write that this sends a “clear signal 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 U.S. stance of “holding sour grapes over the AIIB makes America look isolated and hypocritical.”

The article concludes: “Unlike the U.S.-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?”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.