China is aggressively expanding plans to establish a new global financial institution to rival the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which Beijing fears are too influenced by the US and its allies.

中国正积极推进计划，建立一家可与世界银行(World Bank)和亚洲开发银行(Asian Development Bank)分庭抗礼的全球金融机构。中国政府担心，世行和亚开行过于受到美国及其盟国的影响。

In meetings with other countries in recent weeks, Beijing has proposed doubling the size of registered capital for the proposed bank from an earlier $50bn to $100bn, according to two people close to the matter.

两位知情人士表示，近几周会晤其他国家的官员时，中国政府提出将拟议中的这家银行的注册资本从先前的500亿美元翻倍至1000亿美元。

So far, 22 countries across the region, including several wealthy states in the Middle East – which China refers to as “West Asia” – have shown interest in the multilateral lender, which would be known as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. It would initially focus on building a new version of the “silk road”, the ancient trade route that once connected Europe to China.

迄今为止，包括中东（中国称为“西亚”）几个富国在内的亚洲22国对这家将命名为“亚洲基础设施投资银行”(Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, AIIB)的多边银行表现出兴趣。它最初将专注于建设新版“丝绸之路”——后者是古代连接欧洲和中国的贸易通道。

Most of the funding for the new lender would come from China and would be spent on regional infrastructure such as a direct railway link from Beijing to Baghdad.

新银行的大部分资金将来自中国，用于修建区域性的基础设施，如北京直通巴格达的铁路。

For years, Chinese leaders have demanded a greater say in institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and Asian Development Bank, but reforms to reflect China’s new economic importance have been slow.

多年来，中国领导人要求在世界银行、国际货币基金组织(IMF)和亚洲开发银行获得更大的话语权，但为反映中国经济地位而进行的改革迄今步履缓慢。

“China feels it can’t get anything done in the World Bank or the IMF, so it wants to set up its own World Bank that it can control itself,” said one person directly involved in discussions to establish the AIIB.

“中国发现它在世行或IMF什么事也办不成，因此希望设立它自己的世行，由它控制，”一位直接参与建立AIIB讨论的人士表示。

The moves come as a new UN report predicts outward investments from China will overtake inward ones as soon as this year, as confident Chinese companies move overseas.

联合国(UN)发布的一份新报告预测，随着自信的中国公司走出国门，中国对外投资将在今年超过外商对华投资。

The AIIB would directly challenge the Manila-based ADB, which China feels is too influenced by its increasingly bitter rival Japan. If it is set up with $100bn as planned, the AIIB would be about two-thirds the size of the $165bn ADB.

AIIB将直接挑战总部位于马尼拉的亚开行。中国认为亚开行过于受到日本的影响，而日本与中国的敌对竞争关系日益加剧。如果按计划以1000亿美元资本成立，AIIB的规模将约为亚开行的三分之二，后者的资本为1650亿美元。