Infrastructure as a Tool of Foreign Policy

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is China’s answer to the multi-trillion dollar infrastructure spending gap in Asia. However, many see the bank as an extension of Chinese geopolitical influence. As leaders from Group of 20 (G20), representing 85 percent of global GDP, met in Hangzhou China last weekend, The Cipher Brief sat down with Parag Khanna, author of “Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization,” to discuss the merits of the AIIB and how American policymakers should deal with the bank.

TCB: In your book, Connectography, you talk about how it is incorrect to view international trade and economics in the framework of national competition. Is that still true in the case of something like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which is often seen to be in direct competition with Western institutions?