The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Photo: VCG

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) was trying "very hard" to accommodate the concerns of the US over lending to China, including by slashing loans to it, ADB President Masato Kanda said, according to an AFP report on Monday.

The remarks made by the ADB president are very worrying. Since its establishment, the ADB has been committed to poverty reduction as its primary goal, striving to promote economic development and social progress in the Asia-Pacific region. Any attempt to align development financing with narrow geopolitical interests clearly deviates from the ADB's fundamental purpose.

Then, why did the ADB president make such remarks? Apparently, US pressure played a vital role. In April, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the ADB to take concrete steps toward ending loans to China. 

In recent years, US officials on various occasions have demanded that multilateral development banks reduce financing for China. For example, in June 2023, former US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said she didn't think China should qualify for World Bank loans. In response, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the IMF and the World Bank are multilateral financial institutions and platforms that reflect the trend toward greater democracy in international relations and advance international cooperation on the basis of fully taking into account the interests of all member states. The IMF is not the "International Monetary Fund of the United States," nor is the World Bank, for that matter.

The root cause of the US pressure on the ADB lies fundamentally in its influence within the institution. The US is the largest shareholder of the ADB, which gives it the biggest say over key affairs and decisions. 

Nevertheless, as an independently operated international multilateral financial organization, the ADB should not succumb to or follow the orders of any political forces. Avoiding becoming a tool for the US to contain China's development is crucial for the bank's long-term development.

As a major economy in the Asia-Pacific region, China's need for financing from the ADB is highly reasonable and necessary. Despite its economic size, China still faces development challenges, regional disparities, infrastructure gaps and the need for the green transition, where ADB financing can play a crucial role. 

Over the past few decades, the ADB's financial support has been deeply integrated with China's development strategies, leading to the birth of many landmark projects in key areas such as infrastructure construction and the green energy transformation.

As of December 2024, the ADB had committed 1,238 public sector loans, grants and technical assistance funds totaling $45.2 billion to China, according to data from the ADB's website. In 2024 alone, the bank committed a $197.6 million loan equivalent to establish a finance system for decarbonizing industrial parks, aiming to reduce 900,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually by 2032.  

In Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, the ADB committed $203.2 million equivalent to create a green insurance and guarantee system to finance energy-saving projects, targeting a reduction of 750,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually by 2030.

If anything, such clean energy development projects carried out by China with the ADB's financing not only promoted China's sustainable development but also contributed Chinese solutions to the Asia-Pacific region's efforts to combat climate change and achieve green transformation.

While China's development has received help from the ADB, it has also facilitated the ADB's own development. China is a major sovereign borrower of the ADB and major contributor to ADB development finance and knowledge-sharing initiatives. 

Also, in March, the ADB successfully issued 8.3 billion yuan ($1.15 billion) in panda bonds in China's inter-bank market, which was the bank's largest such panda bond issuance to date. The issuance represents part of the ADB's ongoing efforts to diversify its funding sources and tap into the growing pool of local currency capital in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In this context, the ADB needs to avoid being co-opted into Washington's containment strategy against China. It needs to be clearly aware of its mission and responsibilities, adhering to the core purpose of poverty reduction rather than appeasing a single power. Only by getting rid of external political interference can the ADB continue to play a positive role in the economic and social development of the Asia-Pacific region and achieve its own sustainable development.