CNBC
15 April 2015
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- China Says No to Taiwan on AIIB: What it Means
China Says No to Taiwan on AIIB: What it Means
The Beijing-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) may be more China-focused than initially thought, analysts say, after Taiwan’s bid to become a founding member was denied.
On Monday, China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office confirmed media reports that Taiwan’s bid to become a founding member of the new development bank was rejected, but membership would be welcome in the future “under an appropriate name.”
Nomenclature is a long-standing issue in cross-straits relations, so the news was not entirely unexpected, analysts told CNBC.
“[While Taiwan did not disclose the name it used] it seems to be ‘Chinese Taipei,’ which Taiwan uses in the Olympic Games, but the change to ‘Taipei, China” in the Asian Development Bank has set a precedence of sorts,” said Hoo Tiang Boon, assistant professor with the China Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. “So from Beijing’s perspective, why must the AIIB be less stringent… when the name highlights great symbolism?”
IDSS / GPO / Online
