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Xinhuanet Deputy Editor-in-Chief Liu Jiawen (L,1) talks to Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime Minister, in Beijing, capital of China, on April 24, 2015. (Source: Xinhuanet)
By Xiang Bo
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Everyone should do what they can to help lift Asian infrastructures development, said Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime Minister, in an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet on Thursday.
There is no need for people to worry about the prospect of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), he maintained, though it will be a challenging task for China to run this multilateral institution with a large number of participants.
Indeed, he acknowledged, there is a practical question as for how the financing is arranged for its first project.
Regarding the role China could play in other important international organizations, Rudd said, China ought to play bigger roles in those organizations, instead of being closed out of the door of those organizations.
Otherwise it is unhealthy for international organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said, which should more than welcome China.
The “Belt and Road” initiative, he believed, is probably the single largest infrastructure proposal in world history that highlights infrastructure, connectivity, commerce and innovation.
"There will be a lot of rough spots on the road," he added, "but being constructively realistic about it, it’s far better to be out there doing constructive things, and then managing real problems as they rise."
On Wednesday, Rudd’s research report "U.S.-China 21: The Future of U.S.-China Relations under Xi Jinping" was launched in Shanghai.
