China is a real partner says ADB's East Asia director general

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Unlike some suggestions that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) may reduce its lending to China or might stop it altogether, the bank's lending to the Asian giant, especially in projects related to climate change, will continue to boost, said Amy S. P. Leung, ADB's director general of East Asia operations.

Now the ADB's relationship with China is that of a "real partner" rather than "lender-borrower," she added.

The ADB recently moved from an infrastructure-based support model for China to a model that will improve the quality of economic growth by underlining environmental protection and social sector development.

"We want to continue to engage in China because China is a very important partner to us. There are still certain areas we think we can work with China to provide the support in institutional capacity building in areas such as climate and environment," Leung said.

CGTN Photo

She noted that lending is a way of engaging in China. "Piloting, demonstrating or experimenting some new approaches and technologies to address some development challenges."

Many successful projects in China can be replicated in other developing countries, for example, the project related to air pollution control in China has been replicated in Mongolia, she stressed.

"It's also the request of the Chinese government that our engagement with them should not only be for China but also for the region."

The bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government to support the implementation of the country's rural vitalization strategy. ADB has also started preparing a new strategy to cover 2021–2025, which will align closely with China's strategy and ADB's Strategy 2030.

"So in that regard, we found it to be really good that we can continue to work in China," Leung told CGTN.