The United Kingdom has sought to join the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member, with France, Germany and Italy planning to follow in its footsteps.

Their plans to join the China-proposed regional investment bank with an initial capital of $50 billion have come as shock to the United States, because they are long-time US partners and G7 members. Little wonder then that the AIIB has been widely interpreted as a potential rival to the World Bank, headquartered in Washington, and the Japan-led Asian Development Bank.

But unlike the wild speculations, the establishment of the AIIB is neither an affront to the US-led global financial order nor a move intended to challenge established global institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the ADB.