Canada suspends collaboration with a development bank established in China while it looks into complaints

According to Canada’s finance minister, the government is halting its cooperation with a Chinese-founded development bank while it looks into claims made by a Canadian employee who quit the lender that it is run by “Communist Party hacks” and that his nation shouldn’t be one of its members.

In an email sent out on Wednesday, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank acknowledged Bob Pickard’s resignation as director general of global communications and dismissed his critique as unjustified.

The AIIB was established in 2016 to fund railroads and other infrastructure, and is seen by some as a Chinese alternative to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. It has 106 members, including the majority of the Asian nations as well as Australia, Canada, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom. The United States and Japan are not members.

Chrystia Freeland, who is also the deputy prime minister, told reporters in Ottawa that “the government of Canada will immediately halt all government-led activity at the bank.” “I have asked the Department of Finance to oversee an immediate investigation into the claims made and Canada’s participation in the AIIB.”

“As the world’s democracies work to de-risk our economies by limiting our strategic vulnerabilities to authoritarian regimes, we must likewise be clear about the means through which these regimes exercise their influence around the world,” added Freeland.

Pickard, who spent 15 months working in communications for AIIB, said on Twitter that resignation was his only option as a “patriotic Canadian.” He lamented that the bank was run by “Communist Party hacks” who were “like an in-house KGB or Gestapo or Stasi” — the secret police of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and communist-era East Germany.

“Has one of the most toxic cultures imaginable,” Pickard said of the bank with its headquarters in Beijing. “I don’t think that my country’s membership in the AIIB serves the interests of that country.”

The resignation occurs as China’s current Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, tightens his grip on the country’s government and urges the business sector to support the party’s economic goals.

The AIIB said in the email that “Mr. Pickard’s recent public comments and characterisation of the bank are baseless and disappointing.” The bank “supported and empowered him” throughout his term, according to the statement.

The bank said, “We are proud of our multilateral purpose and have an international staff that is varied, representing 65 different nationalities.

In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa denied Pickard’s remarks, calling them “pure sensationalism and a complete lie.”

Jin Liqun, the president of the AIIB, is Chinese. German, British, Russian, and Indian are among the vice presidents.

Pickard delayed posting his declaration until he reached Japan because he was “concerned for my security,” according to him.

Pickard remained vague. An email addressed to the address listed on his personal website didn’t get a prompt response from him.

Governments in the United States and other nations have issued warnings to their people of an increased danger of being detained arbitrarily in China or barred from leaving the country.

The AIIB is distinct from China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to develop transport infrastructure for commerce across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Its assets are USD 47.4 billion, according to the bank’s financial statement from 2022.