China, the EU and multilateralism: The Asian infrastructure investment bank

Abstract

According to Chinese leaders’ statements, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was created with the main purpose of financing infrastructure in Asia. In this research we analyse to what extent the initiative responds to China’s discontent with its second-level ranking within the existing international financing architecture. We use the Hegemonic Transition Theory to study the diplomatic conflict arisen between China and the US because of the launching of the AIIB, and we complete our work exploring the relevance of EU Members’ support in the acceptance of the AIIB and China’s view of global governance.