Government prevaricated for two weeks before submitting AIIB application after Washington had no objections, says leaked document
South China Morning Post
Date: 11 April, 2015
By: Lawrence Chung in Taipei
A leaked document shows that official advisers strongly recommended that Taiwan join a
Taiwan’s Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford has been criticised by the political opposition for the delay in submitting the application. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Beijing-led international development bank, but the government prevaricated for two weeks and submitted its application at the last minute because it feared upsetting the United States, its main defence ally.
The government received an assessment report recommending the island join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on March 18, the document reveals, but it submitted its application to join only on the deadline’s final day, March 31, after it checked with Washington that it would have no objections.
The US is the main arms supplier to Taiwan, an island governed separately from the mainland since Nationalist forces fled there after losing the civil war to the communists in 1949. [FULL STORY]
