U.S. allies humiliate Obama, rush to join China’s new bank Observers say episode marks diplomatic defeat for Obama

The Washington Times reports:

The rush to join the China’s new development bank for Asia has become a stampede, with even longtime U.S. allies such as Georgia, South Korea, Australia and even Taiwan now saying they are ready to join despite the clear reservations of the Obama administration.

China is putting up half of the planned $100 billion initial capitalization for the Shanghai-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), designed to help finance trillions of dollars in infrastructure projects needed for the booming East Asian region in the coming decades.

At least 42 countries are now expected to be “founding members” of the AIIB, up from 21 when China and a group of Asian and Middle East countries formally signed a memorandum of understanding to open the bank last October, including Germany, Britain, France, Switzerland, Turkey and Russia. Beijing has pressed countries to join by the March 31 deadline, saying only founding members will have a say in setting up the AIIB’s initial structure and lending guidelines.

The world is changing without Barack Obama.