Once called economic animal, the Japanese are instinctively
interested in business chance possibly brought by new international financial
regime in Asia. However, they say neither yes nor no to the invitation, because
their boss has said nothing about it. As long as their prosperity is brought by
their position always on the side of United States, the Japanese will have no
option except following U.S. So, Japan cannot decide whether it will
participate in China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Reaching the time limit of obtaining original membership of
AIIB, Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, announced the willingness of
joining the bank, while keeping reservation of assurance of good governance. A
few days later, South Korea decided to participate in the bank, as expected. Chinese
President, Xi Jinping, on Saturday urged other nations to join the bank by the
end of March, asserting the necessity of creating new financial mechanism in
the region.
International financial mechanism for development in Asian
region has been led by Asian Development Bank, mainly invested by United States
and Japan. Its post of the president has been occupied by Japan from the
beginning of 1966. It was a reserved seat for retired bureaucrats of Ministry
of Finance in Japan. The biggest concern for the government of Japan is whether
AIIB will erode status of Japan as the leader of Asian financial community.
United States is worrying about China’s advance in widening
its influence to the region through financial assistance. As seen in the
development of Africa, China does not invest a developing country without
political intention. U.S. looks like concerning China-led regional order, as it
did against Japan’s Great East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere in the time of World
War II. To deter inappropriate investment by AIIB, U.S. stresses that ADB needs
to cooperate with AIIB.
In the press conference in Tokyo, President of ADB, Takehiko
Nakao, denied competitive relationship between ADB and AIIB, indicating
possibility of cooperative finance by those two organizations. But, he
requested strict judgment to AIIB, raising environmental protection and
preserving human rights of workers. He also insisted on necessity of board of
governors in AIIB for transparency.
Based on an assessment that original membership of AIIB will
not make great difference, Japan postponed its decision after the end of March.
But the struggle over this financial order will closely be connected to
regional hegemony in Asia.
No comments:
Post a Comment