US to press China on infrastructure bank governance standards: official

The United States will press China at upcoming bilateral talks to spell out how it will make a new Asian development bank live up to international governance standards, a senior Treasury official said on Wednesday.

Top officials from the two countries will meet in Washington this summer - dates have not been announced - for annual talks known as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

In a speech previewing what to expect from the S&ED this year, Nathan Sheets, the Treasury's top economic diplomat, said America wanted the talks to "support China's emerging role in the global economic and financial architecture."

While Sheets said the United States welcomed the recent creation of the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, he added what has been a regular caveat in America's chilly reception of the new institution: The welcome mat is only out if the new institution adheres to high standards of lending.

"We will continue to engage directly with China and other countries to provide concrete guidance on how the AIIB can adopt and implement high-quality international standards," Sheets said.

Sheets said the United States also planned to discuss currency policy and climate change at the S&ED, as well as Chinese regulation of information and communications technology.

China suspended bank technology rules in April that Washington and others complained amounted to unfair regulatory pressure on foreign firms.

Sheets said the suspension was a "promising development, but we need to continue to work on this issue."