As China’s media accuses Western media of bias against China’s proposed AIIB, check out this pompous article from Curtis Chin, published in the WSJ. It’s a recommended read.

via Curtis S. Chin: If the West Is Serious About the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank – WSJ.

The trouble with Mr. Chin and his readership at the WSJ is that they’re making erroneous assumptions. Just because things have been done a particular way under US hegemony for the last fifty years, it does not follow as China takes the economic central stage that the same assumptions are still valid. In my mind, it good to probe the assumptions for bias and weakness – ‘kick the tyres’ a bit.

Although I am not a great fan of the UK’s George Osborne and David Cameron, I really admire them for taking ‘first-mover advantage‘ and making the UK the first major country to support China’s AIIB. I hope that the AIIB will signal a new approach which starts to challenge to orthodoxy of both the World Bank and the IMF. For example, look at the IMF’s different positions favoring austerity.

Thoughts?