BRITAIN said it has sought to become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), making it the first Western nation to embrace the China-backed institution, but the United States reacted frostily to the development.

    The AIIB was launched in Beijing last year to spur investment in Asia in transportation, energy, telecommunications and other infrastructure. Analysts have said it could challenge the Western-dominated World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

    However, Britain’s finance ministry said Thursday that the AIIB could complement work already done in the region by those organizations.

    Britain would meet other founding members this month to agree on the principles of the bank’s governance and accountability arrangements, the ministry said.

    Finance minister George Osborne said joining the bank would boost the country’s push to foster business and investment ties with countries in the region, chief among them China.

    “Joining the AIIB at the founding stage will create an unrivalled opportunity for the United Kingdom and Asia to invest and grow together,” he said in a statement.

    Britain’s announcement was not welcomed in Washington.

    A spokesman for the White House National Security Council said the United States had concerns about whether the AIIB would have sufficiently high standards on governance and environmental and social safeguards.

    China’s Ministry of Finance said it welcomed Britain’s decision, and would consult with the AIIB’s existing founding members on its proposed entry.

    “If all goes well, the United Kingdom will become a founding member of the AIIB by the end of March,” it said in a statement on its website.

    The articles of agreement of the AIIB, which will include its shareholding and lending strategy, will not be finalized until the end of 2015, Chinese officials have said.

    Twenty-one countries were represented at the announcement of the bank in October — Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

    Indonesia later said it would join, and China said earlier this year the number of founder members had risen to 26.

    But Japan, Australia and South Korea, the other notable absentees in the region, have not yet announced any decision. Japan, China’s main regional rival, has the highest shareholding in the Asian Development Bank along with the United States, while Australian media said Washington put pressure on Canberra to stay out.

    Vice Finance Minister Joo Hyung-hwan told reporters Thursday that South Korea was still in discussions with China and other countries about its possible participation.

    Sources in the finance ministry said South Korea is undecided because its concerns about governance and operational transparency had not been addressed.

    Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Saturday that Australia expects to make a decision within weeks on whether it will seek to join the AIIB.

    The president of the World Bank said Friday he welcomed the setting up of the AIIB.

    With U.S. interest rates likely to rise later this year, capital flows to emerging markets and low-income countries will face greater challenges over time, Jim Yong Kim told a news conference.

    “From the perspective simply of the need for more infrastructure spending, there’s no doubt that from our perspective, we welcome the entry of the AIIB,” he said.(SD-Agencies)