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China has appointed a former anti-corruption official, known as the “tiger-fighting lady general”, to lead the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Beijing’s answer to the World Bank.
Zou Jiayi, a former vice-finance minister and senior official in the Chinese Communist party’s anti-corruption body, was elected president of the AIIB on Tuesday at a meeting of its board of governors.
She was the sole nominee for the role, and will replace the AIIB’s founding president Jin Liqun, who will step down in January after a decade steering the Beijing-headquartered development bank.
Zou, who has been referred to as a “tiger-fighting lady general” in Chinese state media, rose to prominence on the standing committee of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the CCP’s anti-graft body, which has a reputation for investigating senior officials, or “tigers”.
She is also deputy secretary-general of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee, the government’s advisory body.
The leadership transition comes at a critical moment for Beijing, as it steps up efforts to court Europe and emerging economies, presenting itself as a reliable partner amid the disruption of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.
The AIIB was founded in 2016 as the centrepiece of China’s efforts to reshape international development finance. It has 110 member countries including the UK, Germany, France, Canada and Australia as well as Russia, India and developing nations, but not the US, which has warned that the lender could serve as an arm of Chinese geopolitical influence.
China is the AIIB’s largest stakeholder, holding about 27 per cent of its voting share and contributing 30 per cent of its nearly $100bn in capital.
Trump has ordered a review of US support for international organisations, stoking fears of deep funding cuts or Washington’s withdrawal from institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF.
That has raised the prospect of increased reliance on rivals such as the AIIB, which has approved more than 300 projects worth more than $60bn, primarily infrastructure such as bridges, roads and energy plants.
Jin, the AIIB’s outgoing chief, had previously worked at the World Bank as well as China’s finance ministry. He has been credited with steering the lender through recent geopolitical turbulence including the war in Ukraine, which led it to suspend all activities related to Russia and Belarus.
In a sign of the bank’s expanding ambitions, it is now exploring new regional hubs including in Singapore and Hong Kong, Jin said in an interview with the Financial Times, after opening its first overseas office in Abu Dhabi two years ago.
The AIIB has also diverged from traditional development lenders by offering fewer loans on favourable terms to low-income countries.
Jin acknowledged that a drop in such funding globally would demand changes from traditional lenders, with which the AIIB has also worked closely on many projects.
“It will incentivise borrowers and lenders to do better funding,” he said, adding that the AIIB sought to focus on projects that can “stand on their own two feet and generate revenue”.
Jin also said that “misgivings” about Beijing’s dominance of the institution were misplaced. European partners “can play a big role” in the bank, he said, adding that the door “has been flung open and remains open” to US participation.
