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June 15 (UPI) — Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, stated on Wednesday that the country will be cutting ties with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) due to concerns about its association with “authoritarian regimes.”
Freeland’s decision was prompted by the resignation of a Canadian citizen from a position at the bank, who later expressed concerns about the bank’s purported “domination” by the Communist Party of China.
The bank’s former communications director, Bob Pickard, resigned earlier this week and made allegations about the AIIB’s close ties to the Communist Party of China, referring to the bank as being “dominated” by the party. Pickard, who resigned out of patriotism for Canada, has since left the country and sought refuge in Japan.
“Interesting how all the Communist Party stooge accounts and fake bots here on Twitter are defending AIIB,” Pickard wrote on Twitter Thursday following the news of his resignation.
“The bank’s staunchest supporters on social media are the usual suspects supporting Communist Party propaganda. These accounts affiliated with CCP are AIIB’s biggest social media advocates, for obvious reasons.”
The bank has denied these claims.
Pickard had worked for the Beijing-based financial institution for 15 months, claiming that his resignation was the only choice for a “patriotic Canadian.”
“I don’t believe that my country’s interests are served by its membership in AIIB,” he tweeted on Wednesday.
In response to these developments, Deputy Prime Minister Freeland stated, “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 further added, “While acknowledging China’s role as the world’s second-largest economy, we must be aware of the means through which authoritarian regimes exercise influence globally as the world’s democracies seek to protect ourselves from strategic vulnerabilities.”
The bank swiftly responded to Freeland’s comments, criticizing her use of the term “authoritarian” without directly mentioning Pickard. The Chinese embassy in Canada issued a statement saying, “The remarks made by the individual are outright lies with an attempt to seek sensationalization. AIIB has responded that recent public comments and characterization of the bank by that individual are baseless and disappointing.”
“As for the alleged ‘authoritarian regimes,’ some countries are deliberately pointing fingers at others and even resorting to sanctions, which are absolutely ‘authoritarian’ behaviors,” the statement continued.
