China, Multilateral Banking and Geopolitics
NADEL's Chris Humphrey teamed up with Linda Maduz of the ETH Center for Security Studies to write a new briefing paper on China's role in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and New Development Bank (NDB).
China is taking an increasingly prominent role in international development finance, and in 2016 helped found two new multilateral development banks. The briefing focuses on how the AIIB and NDB fit in with China's geopolitical strategy. One key finding is that while AIIB and NDB both show great potential as new development institutions, they are taking very different approaches to governance arrangements and operational policies. These differences suit China's efforts to play a dual role in global governance: on the one hand as a rising global power rivaling the U.S. (AIIB) and on the other maintaining its traditional stance in solidarity with other developing countries (NDB).