ABSTRACT
China’s active overseas financial adventures have surely motivated many regional and non-regional members to participate in its regional initiative. However, for those developed countries that have considered the benefits of joining the AIIB to be more ambiguous, strategic concerns trump economic benefits and keep those countries away from the AIIB. The US and Japan fear that endorsing the AIIB will further boost China’s comprehensive power capability in the region and the AIIB’s legitimacy and visibility at the expense of their relative power and regional influence. They also worry that the emergence of the AIIB will dilute the importance of the World Bank and the ADB. Taiwan, which shares some of this apprehension, once tried to join the bank but ultimately gave up the application due to the direct and urgent threat to its sovereignty.
