China’s Xi Tweaking Obama in Infrastructure Bank Spat

Despite the clunky name, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank promises to be “lean, clean, and green.” And despite the fact it has said it will complement, not compete with, other agencies, the new China-led bank has emerged as a clear rival to the club of rich nations that control lending to the world’s poor ones.

In the one-upmanship that drives geopolitics, the bank is a victory for Chinese President Xi Jinping as he vies with U.S. counterpart Barack Obama in Asia, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its July/August special Rivalry issue. The U.S. has called the shots at the New York–based World Bank since its formation in 1944. Japan has held the presidency of the Asian Development Bank from its birth in Manila in 1966. And only a Western European has ever claimed the managing directorship of the International Monetary Fund, which was created in 1945.