U.S. Senators propose bill to clamp down on World Bank lending to China
The Hindu
Press Trust of India
That legislation codifies Congress’ support for Administration efforts
to graduate China from the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (IBRD) lending program.
Three Republican
Senators have tabled a legislation in the United States Senate to prevent World bank
from lending to China on projects that would be used against religious and
ethnic minorities.
Introduced by
Senators Chuck Grassley, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton on Wednesday, the Senate
Bill instructs the US representatives at the World Bank to vote against and use
best efforts to deny any loan or extension to countries that significantly
exceed the graduation thresholds or that are designated as a country of concern
for religious freedom.
Grassley and Cotton
also introduced an additional measure, S.3017, which is a companion to the
Accountability for World Bank Loans to
China Act introduced in the House Representatives.
That legislation
codifies Congress’ support for Administration efforts to graduate China from
the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
lending program.
Such a move comes
following reports of a questionable $50 million World Bank loan to a Chinese
organisation associated with the forcible internment of Chinese Uyghur Muslims.
China has been
lending development money outside its borders to extend its influence for years
while taking in U.S. taxpayer dollars via World Bank loans. It’s confounding
that these loans still continue and they ought to stop, Mr. Grassley said.
What’s worse is
that these loans might have helped free up resources used to violate human
rights and force Uyghurs into internment camps, he said.
These bills provide
a short-term and long-term means to take away the status that allows China to
receive loans and halt loans to any country like China that exceeds the World
Bank graduation thresholds or poses a risk to religious freedom, he said.
Mr. Rubio said that
the bill would provide the U.S. Governor of the World Bank with the necessary
guidance to uphold U.S. interests and to focus on the bank’s development
mission.
For too long,
countries like China and Russia have been allowed to exploit the World Bank’s
limited resources even after they should no longer qualify for assistance. I’m
proud to co-sponsor this bill, which will also reaffirm our nation’s continued
commitment to international religious freedom worldwide,” Mr. Rubio said.
According to Mr.
Cotton, the World Bank is sending development aid meant for poor countries to
China, the second-largest economy in the world with access to plenty of
capital. The ruling Communist Party of China uses these loans to fund its
repression of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.
The United States
must urge the World Bank to end these loans, which are contrary to its own
guidelines and the demands of justice. Every dollar loaned to China is a dollar
spent on strengthening the CPC’s grip over the Chinese people, Mr. Cotton said.
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