The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Thursday adopted new guidelines on the quality of infrastructure development and investment, with all 21 economies — including China — agreeing to take into consideration recipients' ability to pay back loans for such funding.
The guidelines call for openness, transparency, cost-effectiveness and fiscal soundness of recipients as international standards for quality infrastructure financing, the Japanese government said after a meeting of APEC foreign and trade ministers in Papua New Guinea.
They are viewed as a veiled counter to China's trillion dollar infrastructure project, which critics say is intended to draw countries deeper into its economic orbit.