China has rejected Taiwan’s application to join its new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member, while signalling that the door is still open for the self-ruled island to join under a different name.
“We believe that a solution can be found regarding Taiwan’s participation in AIIB in a proper capacity through pragmatic consultation,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Monday.
Taiwan participates in the Asian Development Bank as “Taipei, China” and in other international organisations — as well as the Olympic Games — as “Chinese Taipei”. Presidential spokesman Charles I-Hsin Chen would not comment on whether Ma Ying-jeou’s administration would consider joining the bank under “other names or other scenarios”.