As regular readers know, we've variously described the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as representing both an attempt by China to cement its regional dominance by implicitly adopting a sino-Monroe Doctrine, as indicative of Beijing's desire to supplant to US-dominated multinational institutions that have been a fixture of the post WWII economic world order, and, perhaps most importantly, as a not-so-subtle indication that dollar hegemony may be on the way out and yuan hegemony may be around the corner.

Essentially the AIIB will (either intentionally or unintentionally depending on who you believe) serve as an instrument of Chinese foreign policy and any hope of keeping this between the people who are privy to the country's various hidden agendas (because all countries have agendas), went out the window early last month when the UK staged a coup by breaking with Washington and joining the development bank triggering a flood of applications from Western countries and culminating in membership bids from US "allies" Australia, Israel, and even Canada. Adding insult to injury, the AIIB is now looking to hire officials away from the World Bank and rival ADB.