Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Treasury Secretary of the United States Jacob Lew in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2015. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said on Monday that the United States is looking forward to cooperating with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), as it welcomes and supports proposals that are helpful to infrastructure construction.
The cooperation can be carried out through liaison between the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialog (SED), the World Bank and the AIIB, and any other mechanisms accepted by the two countries, Lew said in his talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang earlier on Monday, according to Chinese Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao.
Zhu told Xinhua after the hour-long talks that Lew also welcomes China playing a bigger role in international economic affairs.
He added that Lew said the United States hopes the AIIB can formulate a quality management structure and that it is ready to discuss this with China.
The meeting came ahead of the March 31 deadline for countries to apply to become founding members of the AIIB, which will aim to support infrastructure projects in Asia.
Zhu said Lew came to China to prepare for the upcoming SED in June and President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States in September.
"The SED is also a working procedure to ensure the meeting between the two presidents is a success," he said.
"I think the meeting we have today and the meeting we have in the SED will help up move U.S.-China relations forward," Lew told Li.
Besides meeting with Li, Lew also held meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang and heads of other government departments.
"The meeting with Premier Li was very fruitful. Both sides voiced hope for each other's economic success," Zhu said.
Facing the instability and uncertainty of world economic recovery, it is very important that China and the United States coordinate on economic policy and maintain economic growth, he noted.
Zhu said Li also asked Lew to feed back three points to the U.S. side:
-- China will steadily abide by a peaceful way of development.
-- China will endeavor to promote regional peace, stability, development and prosperity.
-- China is ready to work with United States to expand their common interests and properly handle disputes. There are broad prospects for cooperation and the relationship between the two.
