State-owned China Development Bank Corp., which is likely to be a leading financer of Aluminum Corp. of China's $19.5 billion investment in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto PLC (RTP), said Friday that any funding deal with Chinalco is "based purely on commercial interests" and isn't directed by the government.

The expected role by CDB - which is owned by China's Ministry of Finance and the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. - in the financing of Chinalco's deal has complicated the review of the deal by the Australian government and raised concerns Chinese government interests are behind it.

Australian Prime Minister Treasurer Wayne Swan told CIC Chairman Lou Jiwei last month that Australia is open to foreign investment so long as the investment is in the national interest.

CDB President Jiang Chaoliang, who was speaking with a select group of reporters in a rare interview during the National People's Congress, China's annual legislative session, said any national-interest concerns due to CDB's government background are unwarranted.

"The business relation between CDB and Chinalco is purely based on commercial interest, Jiang said.

He said CDB is just one of China's state banks that are interested in cooperating with Chinalco.

"Any bank in China would love to do business with a good client like Chinalco...CDB isn't an exception," he said.

CDB and Chinalco haven't yet signed a final agreement about funding, Jiang said.

But even if a financing deal is struck, CDB "wouldn't have any power to intervene in how Chinalco would use the money, as long as it is used safely. It will be totally up to Chinalco's management to decide," said Jiang, the former chairman of state-run Bank of Communications Co.

Jiang was named to his current position in September as part of the policy bank's transformation into a stockholding commercial lender, after an investment vehicle under China's sovereign wealth fund injected $20 billion into CDB at the end of 2007 to take a nearly 50% stake from the Ministry of Finance.

CDB was founded in 1994 under the direct supervision of the State Council and is the country's biggest issuer of bonds behind the Finance Ministry. It has been primarily tasked with supporting China's infrastructure construction and development of backbone industries.

Jiang said CDB's role as a major state bank that serves the country's medium to long-term economic development remains unchanged after the overhaul.

"In the foreseeable future CDB will absolutely remain controlled by the government", he said.

CDB has no plans to introduce any foreign strategic investors for now, Jiang said.

Instead, he said CDB will choose a right time to introduce as a strategic investor the National Council for Social Security Fund, China's pension fund that sits on roughly US$80 billion worth of assets.

-Victoria Ruan contributed to this story, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588-5848; victoria.ruan@dowjones.com