The Inter-American Development Bank said Friday its annual meeting would exit China after the United States led objections to Beijing's refusal to grant a visa to the Venezuelan representative backed by Washington. The bank, which provides development funding for Latin America and in which Washington holds 30 percent of voting power, said it would no longer gather in the southwestern city of Chengdu from March 28 to 31 in what would have been its first annual meeting in China.
The Washington-based institution said its board would decide within 30 days where to hold the meeting instead. The decision marks a two-front victory for the United States which is trying to oust Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro and to reduce Chinese influence in Latin America.
A State Department official said that the United States objected to China holding the meeting so long as it did not issue a visa to Ricardo Hausmann, who is considered the Venezuelan representative to the bank by Juan Guaido, the self-declared interim president recognized by Washington and major Latin American and European states.
US allies backed the US position, with more than 80 percent of IDB shareholders voting Friday to move the meeting out of China, the official said.