France, Germany and Italy to join Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, despite Washington’s pressure

France, Germany and Italy have agreed to follow Britain’s lead and join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), ignoring Washington’s pressure to stay out of the institution. A senior US diplomat commented, however, that it was up to individual countries to decide on joining a new China-led body.

China's Xinhua news agency said South Korea, Switzerland and Luxembourg were also considering joining.

Quoting European officials, Britain's Financial Times said the decision by the four countries to become members of the AIIB was a blow for Washington, which has questioned if the new bank will have high standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards.

The lending body is considered to be contributing to the spread of China’s “soft power” in the region, possibly at the expense of the United States.

On Tuesday Washington’s top diplomat for east Asia signalled that the concerns about the AIIB remained but the decision on whether to join was up to individual nations.

The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, said at the weekend he would make a final decision on AIIB membership soon, while Japan and South Korea remain absentees in the region.

South Korea has said it is still in discussions with China and other countries about its possible participation.

Japan, China’s main regional rival, has the biggest shareholding in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) along with the United States, and the Manila-based bank is headed by a Japanese, by convention.

Japan is unlikely to join the China-backed bank but the head of the ADB, Takehiko Nakao, told the Nikkei Asian Review that the two institutions were in discussions and could co-operate.

The AIIB was established by Beijing in October 2014 to encourage investment in Asia in transportation, energy, telecommunications and other infrastructure. It is widely observed as a potential rival to the western-dominated World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Earlier in 2015 China said that a total of 26 countries had been included as founder members, mostly from Asia and the Middle East. It plans to finalise the articles of agreement by the end of the year.