Asian Infrastructure Bank and the rise of China as a global power

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a China-led international financial institution like the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund which are meant to spur development around the world. The AIIB offers Asia  additional financial aid to fund infrastructure projects. Many see the launch of the AIIB as an attempt by China to gain more economic influence in Asia. Currently 57 countries, from across five continents, have signed the 35-page-long Articles of Agreement and have therefore contributed capital to the AIIB. Much of the world has welcomed the AIIB including for example the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as the AIIB will be able to address the infrastructure spending Gap in Asia.

Although China has openly foresworn seeking veto power it is by far the largest contributor and therefore has the largest amount of voting shares. Japan, the US and Canada have refused to join the AIIB altogether. They have doubts regarding the AIIB’s compliance with principles on good governance, transparency, and environmental sustainability. Though the main concern is probably the increased influence that China will gain in the region and in the world. Instead of looking at the US, many developing Asian countries will now turn to China for help. On top of this there is growing concern that the AIIB will aid the Chinese yuan in its bid to threaten the dollar’s status as sole global reserve currency.

The visualization below shows the country voting rights for the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development bank and the Asian Infrastructure Bank as well as the differences between them. Furthermore we have added information about the imports and exports from and to China as well as the trade balance that countries have with China. Selecting a parameter in the X-axis box on the upper right corner will update both the world map and scatter plot. The y-axis box will only affect the scatter plot. Additionally users can select their preferred countries

The second tab in this visualization shows the Composition of Official Foreign Exchange reserves for the past 10 years. Though the US sees the AIIB and China as a threat to the US dollar, it seems for the past 10 years the dominance of the U.S. dollar has remained virtually unchanged.

Sources

Currency reserves:  Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER), International Financial Statistics (IFS)

IMF Voting Rights:  https://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/memdir/members.aspx

ADB Voting Rights: http://www.adb.org/about/members

AIIB Voting Rigths: http://www.aiibank.org/uploadfile/2015/0629/20150629094900288.pdf

Imports & Exports: http://english.customs.gov.cn/

GDP: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/