Turkey, a beneficiary of the Belt and Road Initiative, secured a $150 million loan from AIIB last year to aid a significant highway project. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan, where Xi initially launched the BRI in 2013, received a $47 million loan for a major wind farm in 2019.
“Although China cannot directly use the AIIB as a tool for its ambitious BRI agenda, it leverages the bank to advance the BRI,” writes Yu Hong, a senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore in a 2024 book on the BRI.
Yu asserts, “It’s not an exaggeration to claim that the AIIB is designed to project China’s influence in Asia and beyond, facilitating the BRI’s implementation.”
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“A considerable amount of infrastructure financing occurs through London,” said a senior British business representative knowledgeable about AIIB’s president. “AIIB would likely benefit from an increase in international deal flow.”
Chatham House’s senior China research fellow Matthews notes, “The White House is more concerned about the U.K. choosing sides and the risk of CCP influence.” As China grows in power, he adds, the U.K. “should base its decisions on long-term national interests, even if it creates friction with the U.S.”
Matthews states that the U.K.’s membership in the AIIB “allows some influence over the bank’s development.” He emphasizes the need for clear awareness of the Chinese Communist Party’s influence and the importance of countering it when necessary.
“The primary question for the U.K. is not the immediate political impact on the Labour government’s China policy versus relations with the Trump administration,” Matthews explains, “but the long-term strategic challenge of maintaining economic and geopolitical relevance in a China-influenced world.”
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