Canada is freezing its ties with the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) after the bank’s global communications director resigned and said the bank was “dominated by the Communist party”.
Finance minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday Canada was putting its ties with AIIB on hold while it investigated the allegations and did not rule out any outcomes, a clear hint that Ottawa could pull out of a bank it officially joined in March 2018.
The AIIB was established by Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2016 as a Chinese alternative to the World Bank and other western-led multilateral lending institutions. It has 106 members worldwide and says it is an “apolitical” lender.
The bank’s global communications director, Bob Pickard, who is Canadian, announced his resignation on his personal Twitter account on Wednesday, saying he had left because of its “toxic culture” and accused it of being “dominated by Communist party members”.
“As a patriotic Canadian, this was my only course. The bank is dominated by Communist party members and also has one of the most toxic cultures imaginable. I don’t believe that my country’s interests are served by its AIIB membership,” he said.
AIIB said the claims were “baseless and disappointing”. “Throughout this time, the bank has supported and empowered him to perform his role,” it said in a statement. “We are proud of our multilateral mission and have a diverse international team.”
Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau was in power when Canada joined the AIIB in 2018. The opposition Conservatives have long demanded Ottawa pull out of the bank, claiming it is a tool for Beijing to export authoritarianism throughout the Pacific.
Before its launch, the US urged countries to think twice about signing up to the bank and questioned whether it would have sufficient standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards, Reuters reported in 2015.
As of November, the AIIB had financed 194 projects in countries such as India, Uzbekistan and the Philippines, totalling $37bn, up from $29bn in October 2021, according to S&P Global Ratings.
Freeland told reporters on Wednesday: “The government of Canada will immediately halt all government-led activity at the bank. And I have instructed the Department of Finance to lead an immediate review of the allegations raised and of Canada’s involvement in the AIIB.”
She said as the world’s democracies worked to limit their strategic vulnerabilities to authoritarian regimes, they must be clear about the ways such governments exercised their influence.
“The review I am announcing today is to be undertaken expeditiously. And I am not ruling out any outcome following its completion,” she said.
The Chinese embassy in Ottawa, asked for comment, said in an email that “the claim that ‘AIIB is controlled by the Communist party of China’ is nothing but a lie.”
Freeland’s remarks mark a new dip in bilateral relations with China, which have been frosty for the past five years.
Canada has accused China of trying to interfere in its affairs through various schemes, including illegal police stations and the targeting of lawmakers. Beijing denies all such allegations.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Tuesday it was investigating allegations China tried to intimidate a federal Conservative legislator.
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