The president of the Japan-dominated Asian Development Bank has welcomed a proposal by China to set up a rival $50bn infrastructure fund, but warned that the new institution should not disregard environmental and other safeguards.

At the ADB’s annual meeting, in Astana, Kazakhstan, this month, Beijing began to flesh out plans for an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to promote closer regional ties.

Beijing said the new bank, which is strongly backed by Xi Jinping, China’s president, would be less bureaucratic than the ADB and more focused on physical infrastructure than on poverty reduction. In Astana, China discussed its plans with 15 Asian countries but did not talk to either Japan or the US, the ADB’s two leading shareholders, nor India.