In a thinly veiled admonishment, the White House recently accused the UK – our closest ally – of “a policy of constant accommodation” towards China. The parallel drawn to the historical appeasement of Germany by an apprehensive Europe was lost on no one, nor indeed the overwrought nature of the underlying concern.
The proximate cause of this spleen-venting was the surprise breaking of ranks by the UK to join as a founding shareholder the nascent China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB.) This initial $50bn fund has as its’ agenda the financing of overdue infrastructure in Asia.
It is of a piece too with the recent proposal by China to form a Brics bank focused on its’ partners in Brazil India, Russia and South Africa. There is also then the ambitious “New Silk Road” project, which aims to generate greater connectivity between Asia and beyond – by land and by sea. All of this stands against the backdrop of a US-led effort to hammer out a Trans Pacific Partnership with the very same partners in Asia, conspicuously excluding China.