TOKYO: South Korea called on Saturday for deeper cooperation with Japan on a China-led development bank, while Japan remained cautious about the lender, which it and ally the United States have held back from joining.

A meeting between the Japanese and South Korean finance ministers was “an impetus to deepen cooperative relations” re­­garding the Asian Infra­s­tructure Investment Bank, South Korea’s Choi Kyung-hwan told host Taro Aso.

The Beijing-sponsored $100bn lender is seen as a rival to the US-dominated World Bank and Japan-led Asian Development Bank. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe countered China’s push on Thursday, announcing $110bn in aid for Asian infrastructure projects over five years.

Aso and Choi “agreed on the importance of assessing enormous demand for infrastructure investments in Asia”, including through Abe’s new “Partnership for Quality Infrastructure”, both countries said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2015

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