China pledges $10b loan for neighbours

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NUSA DUA (Indonesia), Nov 18 (AFP): Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday Beijing would offer its Southeast Asian neighbours $10 billion in infrastructure loans, as he sought to deepen trade ties in the region. He made the announcement in a speech at China's meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders on the Indonesian island of Bali, after Beijing in 2009 announced a similar $15 billion loan to the region. The earlier loan "has supported more than 50 infrastructure development projects, involving almost all ASEAN countries," said Wen, according to a copy of his speech released by China's state news agency Xinhua. He said China and the 10-member regional bloc should enhance financial cooperation, including "local currency swap and encourage the quoting of China's yuan and ASEAN currencies in each other's inter-bank foreign exchange". China has an ambitious goal to turn the yuan, also known as the renminbi, into a global currency rivalling the dollar. "China-ASEAN relationship is solidly based and has great potential and a promising future," said Wen, promising China would "forever be a good neighbour, good friend and good partner" of ASEAN.