The announcement by Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Brazil to join the China-promoted Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has taken the world by surprise. AIIB, dismissed just months ago by western countries as another flamboyant plan by China, is now clearly accepted as a tangible game changer in the multilateral financial architecture.
What really reveals the scope and potential of AIIB, however, is Beijing’s brilliant and calibrated March 29 vision for transnational economic corridors for Asia, inviting the world to participate in this ambitious web of cross-border physical, financial and business connectivity.