1. There's a campaign being run about India taking a loan from the #AIIB to fight COVID. The allegation is along the lines of "how dare the govt take a loan from the 'Chinese-controlled' bank and is it a payoff for the land China has tried to capture"? Let's examine this:
2. India is the second-largest shareholder in #AIIB, with a paid-in capital of $1.67 billion in the bank. It's not quite clear why people would object to India taking a loan from a bank it has such a substantial stake in. 
3. As for the 'Chinese-controlled' bit, it's common sense that although AIIB has its headquarters in Beijing, this does not make it a Chinese-controlled bank. That would be like saying the Philippines controls the Asian Development Bank because it is headquartered there.
4. Just to alleviate the concerns of those still clinging to the 'Chinese-controlled' narrative, please rest assured knowing that an Indian--Sameer Kumar Khare--is one of the directors in the Bank and another Indian--DJ Pandian--is the Vice President of the Bank for South Asia.
5. China is a minority shareholder in the #AIIB and nothing more.
6. Coming to the 'payment for the land we apparently "gave up" to the Chinese' allegation. State govts across party lines have taken #AIIB loans, and that's fine. But if it is such a problem, maybe @INCIndia wants to explain why Maharashtra & Rajasthan borrowed so much from AIIB?
7. States need financing and it's perfectly okay to turn to multilateral lending institutions for loans. During this pandemic and the associated economic crisis, even the Centre needs to borrow. @INCIndia has been asking the Centre to borrow. When it does, they can't complain.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
