China Life Insurance Company (China Life) will not bid for the American International Assurance Company (AIA), the Asian life insurance unit of beleaguered American International Group (AIG), state media reported. The Chinese insurer said it decided not to pursue the opportunity because of a decline in AIA’s assets, business conditions, staff and prestige of the brand. Bank of China, another previously-interested party, said in mid-February it will not bid for the troubled insurer. The auction of AIA was triggered by the need to repay a five-year, US$60 billion government loan as AIG came close to bankruptcy last year. The US government said Monday it will provide another US$30 billion to AIG to stave off a collapse. AIG, once the world’s largest insurer, lost US$61.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, the biggest quarterly loss in US corporate history.