Canada
Canada stops all activity with China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Ottawa/IBNS: As Canada probes allegations that China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is dominated by the Chinese Communist Party, the country is freezing ties with the bank, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday.
She said Ottawa could pull out of the bank it officially joined in March 2018.
"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," Freeland told reporters.
"The review I am announcing today is to be undertaken expeditiously. And I am not ruling out any outcome following its completion."
The bank's global communications director, Bob Pickard, accused the bank of being "dominated by the Communist Party" and said Wednesday he had resigned.
Having worked for AIIB for 15 months, Pickard said in a statement on Twitter that resigning was his only option as a "patriotic Canadian."
A response to a request for comment by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa was not given immediately.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in power when Canada joined the AIIB and the opposition Conservatives have long demanded that Ottawa pull out of the bank.
Allegations that China tried to intimidate a federal Conservative MP is being reportedly investigated by RCMP.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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