Nearly two months after the federal government claimed it would “review” Canada’s membership in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AAIB), the former top official who blew the whistle on the Chinese Communist Party’s influence over the bank’s leadership is wondering why Ottawa is dragging their feet on exiting the organization.
According to the AIIB’s former director general of communications Bob Pickard, Canada would not join the bank today due to the internal influence of pro-Beijing regime actors.
“To me, the test of our membership is this: in light of China’s political interference, attacks on our country’s interests, and thuggish aggression against our citizens, would Canada now join the AIIB if it were being founded today? Not a chance!” Pickard told the Globe and Mail.
In June, Pickard announced his resignation from the organization citing a parallel decision making structure he attributed to the Chinese government. Soon after Pickard’s departure, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Canada would pause its operations with the bank until a review was conducted.
“It was a shadow reporting structure. Senior people warned me when I joined the bank, ‘Watch out for each of the party members. Be careful what you say around them. And don’t mess with them because they’ve got more power than other people do with the bank.’,” said Pickard.
“To do business here and play politics inside of this bank, I would have to deal with party people and get them to consent to what it is I was trying to achieve. None of which involves the necessity of executive committee approval, or getting a board approval.”
In response to Pickard’s accusations, the AIIB has said that an internal review found the claims baseless and that things were running as intended.
According to Pickard, the bank and its proponents have resorted to disparaging his character by accusing him of having management shortcomings.
“The bank sees the destruction of my reputation as the easiest way to try and protect theirs,” said Pickard.
“It is important to note that I left on my own steam and was not pushed out.” He added that he more than doubled the bank’s media coverage, and that there were no communications staff departures during his time there.”
In an interview with True North, senior Munk fellow of economics at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute Philip Cross said the Canadian government was naive to believe the AIIB to be anything other than a tool for the Beijing regime.
“Do I think that Canada’s withdrawal is going to have much of an impact? No, I don’t think I don’t think Canada got many contracts. I’d never heard of Canada benefiting. Canada was always a minor part of this. We should have been aware of that right from the start,” said Cross.
