57 countries including two from Africa, are among the founding members of China’s new development bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). While the new bank’s primary objective will be develop infrastructure projects in Asia, as its name suggests, there is widespread anticipation (mixed with some hope) the bank will expand its scope of work to eventually include Africa and beyond.
Tsinghua University Associate Professor and Resident Scholar at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, Dr. Tang Xiaoyang, joins Eric & Cobus this week to discuss the new AIIB and what implications it could have on development finance in Africa.
Recommended reading:
- Reuters: Africa bank chief wants to work with China-led AIIB
- China Daily: AIIB to accelerate investment trends in Africa
- Bloomberg: Summers Says U.S. IMF Inaction Gives China’s AIIB Legitimacy
Tang Xiaoyang is a resident scholar at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy and an associate professor in the Department of International Relations at Tsinghua University. His research interests include political philosophy, China’s modernization process, and China’s engagement in Africa.
At the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center, Tang’s research focuses on China-Africa relations, with a particular emphasis on the differing aid models and dynamics in Africa between countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and China.
Before he came to Tsinghua, Tang worked at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC. He also worked as a consultant for the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and various research institutes and consulting companies.
