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President Barack Obama will visit Vietnam in May when he'll be in Asia attending an international summit. The White House says Obama told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung he had accepted an invitation to visit the former U.S. adversary. Obama and Dung spoke Monday on the sidelines of a U.S. summit with Southeast Asian leaders taking place in Southern California. ...

Beware the perils of a ‘Little Britain’ and a ‘Little Japan’ by Yoichi Funabashi Jul 10, 2015 Article history Japan and Britain have responded in completely different ways to the China-led initiative to create the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which the United States has opted not to join. In a rebuff to the U.S., Britain was the first Group of Seven member to announce that it would join the AIIB as a founding member. Out of courtesy, Britain informed the U.S. government of its intention just one day before its official announcement. Some within the U.S. government are still...

Japan is not planning to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, its government spokesman said Tuesday, while Taiwan announced it would apply for membership, joining dozens of countries in signing up to an initiative opposed by Washington. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that Japan, the world’s No. 3 economy, is still seeking answers about how the regional financing institution would be governed. “As of today, Japan will not join AIIB and a clear explanation has not been received from China,” Suga said. The U.S. has found itself isolated in its resistance to the bank, with more than...

Mike Bird March 31, 2015China's new development bank, which was announced just five months ago, is becoming a massive headache for the US. Try as it might, the US government can't convince its allies to stop joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The bank will be a bit like the World Bank, providing loans to developing countries in Asia for infrastructure projects. Unlike the World Bank, China will hold the reins of the AIIB. The US administration is publicly worried that the institution won't meet high governance standards, but really seems opposed to the move because it signals a...

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble confirmed on Tuesday that Germany has agreed to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), despite pressure from the US.Germany, France and Italy “want to bring our long experience … to help the bank build a solid reputation,” Schäuble said at a joint press conference in Berlin with Chinese vice-premier Ma Kai. “We want to make a contribution to the positive development of the Asian economy, in which German companies are actively taking part,” he said. France and Italy have also agreed to become members of the $50-billion institution, seen as a rival to the...