France, Germany and Italy on Tuesday announced plans to join the Chinese-led development bank AIIB, drawing concern in Washington which views the institution with skepticism. The three European countries want ”to become founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)”, they said in a statement.
The US has expressed concern over the UK's bid to become a founding member of a Chinese-backed development bank. The UK is the first big Western economy to apply for membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) despite the fact that US has raised questions over the bank's commitment to international standards on governance.
Shares in China fell after the country's government set its official growth target at 7% for this year. The rate is lower than last year's target of 7.5%, which China missed after it grew at the slowest pace in 24 years. The Shanghai Composite closed down 1% at 3,248.48, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.1% lower at 24,193.04.
I'm asking all Argentine and mainly those who have aspirations of leading the country, to open their heads, said Cristina Fernandez in reference to the recently signed agreements with China, which are in the framework of an integral strategic association and have under strong criticism.
It's official: in the coming weeks a technical delegation from Argentina's Air Force will be travelling to China to assess the convenience of purchasing Chinese jet fighters to replace the obsolete French made Mirages. Only a month ago president Cristina Fernandez was in Beijing where she sealed an integral strategic alliance with China.
Loans by China's state-owned banks to Latin American countries rose by 71% to 22bn dollars in 2014, according to estimates published by the China-Latin America Finance Database. The figure is the second largest on record for Chinese lending in Latin America, according to the report.
Despite the strong questioning from the opposition, the manufacturers' lobby and many unions, the Argentine ruling coalition mustered sufficient votes in the Lower House to pass the controversial package of cooperation, economic and investment agreements between Argentina and China.
China has agreed to supply Argentina with new fighter jets that will replace its aging fleet of single-engine Dassault Mirage planes. Defense experts said two types of China-developed fighters are likely candidates: the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation-built FC-1/JF-17 and the J-10, according to a report from Chinatopix.
Brazilian foreign minister Mauro Vieira discarded that the recent agreements reached by Argentina with China can interfere with Mercosur, while his Argentine counterpart Hector Timerman said that the package of accords with Beijing will actually benefit Mercosur.
Argentina's top officials will meet on Thursday with representatives from the Argentine Industrial Union, UIA, to discuss some clauses and aspects of the recent agreements signed between China and Argentina last week, and which have been questioned by the manufacturers' lobby.