China banking checkmate?

The list is growing ever longer of countries eager to sign up to a new China-led investment bank.

Beijing set Tuesday as the deadline for those wishing to become a founding member of what’s called the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The UK, India, Pakistan and Indonesia are among the nations whose applications have been accepted, while those who have applied to become founding members include France, Germany, Russia and Brazil.

Heading the notable exceptions, for now at least, are the United States and Japan, both of which have huge stakes in existing institutions, namely the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank.

China has been unable to increase its influence on the global financial stage.

So is that a good reason to create its own alternative?

Or is it part of a bigger plan to challenge the world economic order?

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests:

Richard Wellings – Deputy editorial director of the Institute for Economic Affairs

Wing Woo – President of the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia, a Malaysian think-tank

Tang Xiaoyang – Scholar at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy, who focuses on China’s international relations