State-owned China Development Bank Corp., which is likely to be a leading financer of Aluminum Corp. of China's US$19.5 billion investment in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto PLC (RTP), said Friday that any funding for Chinalco would be "based purely on commercial interests" and wouldn't be 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 transaction by the Australian government and raised concerns Chinese government interests are behind it.

Australian 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.

Asked if CDB may need to borrow money from either the central bank or CIC for financing huge deals such as Chinalco's investment in Rio, Jiang said "No". He said the bank has "ample liquidity."

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 US$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 will push forward its reform plan but won't follow the model that has been widely adopted by its state-bank peers, he said.

In recent years, Industrial & Commercial Bank Of China Ltd., Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp. and Bank of Communications, the fifth-largest lender that Jiang originally served, all completed their stockholding reform by receiving government capital injections, introducing foreign strategic investors, and offering shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Jiang said that, for now, CDB won't introduce any foreign strategic investors. Instead, he said CDB will choose a right time to introduce government-backed investors, including the National Council for Social Security Fund, China's pension fund that sits on roughly US$80 billion worth of assets. He didn't name any other potential investors in CDB's reform plan.

He also said that CDB, which holds a stake of just below 3% in Barclays PLC, has no current plan to make any fresh investments in overseas financial institutions despite current low asset prices.

CDB must prioritize its investments as it faces "very big challenges" in getting good returns on its capital, a goal it wants to achieve before it sells a stake to the pension fund, Jiang said.

"We must allocate our capital to where we need it most," he said.

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