WASHINGTON
– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today joined Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and 17 senators
in introducing
legislation
that will end lending to China from multilateral development banks, including
the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
“China
has been lending development money outside its borders to extend its influence
for years while taking in U.S. taxpayer dollars via the World Bank and other
global institutions. What’s worse is that these loans may have helped free up
resources used to violate human rights and force Uighurs into internment camps.
There’s no reason the world’s second largest economy needs these funds. I’ve
led legislative efforts to hold China and the World Bank accountable, and I’m
pleased to join Senator Barrasso and my other colleagues to continue this work.
It’s past time to set in statute an American policy that opposes these loans to
the communist government of China,” Grassley
said.
The
World Bank and the Asian Development Bank were created to assist developing
countries and help eliminate extreme poverty. Despite having access to capital
and being one of the world’s largest economies, China is still receiving loans
and assistance from both banks.
Since
it passed the graduation criteria in 2016, the World Bank approved $8.9 billion
in projects in China. The Asian Development Bank provided China with $7.6
billion in loans and $1.8 billion in non-sovereign commitments to China during
that same timeframe.
This
legislation establishes that it is U.S. policy to oppose any additional lending
to China from multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank.
It
requires the Secretary of Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director at
each of the multilateral development banks to oppose any loan, extension, or
technical assistance by the bank to China and to end lending to countries that
exceed the criteria for graduating from lending at the bank.
The
legislation also creates an annual report to Congress:
·
assessing
the status of China’s borrowing from the multilateral development banks,
·
describing
China’s voting power, shares and representation at the banks,
·
listing
countries exceeding the graduation discussion income at each bank,
·
listing
countries that have graduated from assistance from each bank, and
·
describing
U.S. efforts to end lending to countries once countries exceed the eligibility
requirements.
Grassley
has long been
critical
of the World Bank’s funding of China despite the country’s ongoing
human
rights abuses and infringements on religious freedom. In 2019, Grassley
requested
a meeting with the World Bank President following the reports of highly questionable
$50 million loan provided to an organization associated with the forcible
internment of Chinese Uighur Muslims, a population that has experienced grave
human rights violations at the hands of the communist Chinese government. Most
recently, Grassley and his colleagues introduced the
World
Bank Integrity Preservation Act of 2021 to curb China’s
access to World Bank Lending.
