China to reject Taiwan as AIIB founding member

China's government confirmed on Monday that, despite its willingness, Taiwan will not become a founding member of the country's new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) initiative.

Founding members will have the right to create the bank's governance and operational framework. The reason behind this decision is that only sovereign states will be admitted, and China does not recognise Taiwan's sovereignty since 1949.

Taiwan had applied to become AIIB's founding member on the deadline’s day of March 31, and hoped to avoid being isolated from major infrastructure project financing the bank plans to carry out.

Read more: Over 40 nations queue up to join China's investment bank

In a statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency, China's Taiwan Affairs Office said that Taiwan could join the bank if it used an appropriate name, as it did when it joined the World Health Organisation or the International Olympic Committee as “Chinese Taipei”.

The final list containing AIIB's founding members will be released on April 15.

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