China welcomes US participation in AIIB, Silk Road Fund

BEIJING -- China welcomes participation of the United States in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Wednesday.

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"China upholds the principle of openness and inclusiveness in the proposals and initiatives it raised, such as the new security concept for Asia and the establishment of the AIIB and the Silk Road Fund," Xi told his US counterpart Barack Obama during talks held in Beijing.

China welcomes active participation from relative countries, including the United States, in those proposals and initiatives, Xi said.

The remarks came days after Xi's announcement that China will contribute $40 billion to set up a Silk Road Fund.

The fund will be used to provide investment and financing support to carry out infrastructure, resources, industrial cooperation, financial cooperation and other projects related to connectivity for countries along the "Belt and Road", Xi said during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings that just concluded in Beijing.

The Belt and Road refer to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives raised by China.

Last month, a total of 21 Asian countries inked a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the AIIB with an expected initial subscribed capital of $50 billion.

The new security concept for Asia was put forward by Xi at the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Shanghai in May.

In his proposal, Xi called for a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security strategy for Asia.

During their talks on Wednesday, Xi and Obama underscored commitment to building a new type of major-country relations between the world's two largest economies.

Obama arrived in Beijing Monday to attend the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and pay a state visit to China at Xi's invitation.