Ignoring U.S. Threats Major European Countries Have Decided To Join The China-Led Development Bank

President Xi Jinping, fourth from right, meets with guests in October at the AIIB launch ceremony in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing. Reuters

Financial Times: Europeans defy US to join China-led development bank

George Parker in London, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Paris and Geoff Dyer in Washington.

France, Germany and Italy have all agreed to follow Britain’s lead and join a China-led international development bank, according to European officials, delivering a blow to US efforts to keep leading western countries out of the new institution.

The decision by the three European governments comes after Britain announced last week that it would join the $50bn Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a potential rival to the Washington-based World Bank.

Australia, a key US ally in the Asia-Pacific region which had come under pressure from Washington to stay out of the new bank, has also said that it will now rethink that position.

WNU Editor: This is a watershed moment .... the Chinese have been patiently laying the groundwork to contest the US on who will define the economic and trade rules in Asia over the coming decades ... in short .... who will control the global economy. In this first skirmish .... the powerhouses of Europe have made their decision .... and in their opinion the U.S. is not who they want to be with.