This is also a geopolitical and diplomatic offensive; Xi
Jinping talked first of a “community of destiny” among
Asians, and our sources offer reassurance that China is
seeking to “supplement” the existing international order
rather than to revise it. But money also talks, and a strategy
largely based on loans and aid is building China’s financial
power, in addition to the trade power it already possesses.
The world’s great expectations further increase the
audience for what the Chinese sometimes describe as
the country’s “second opening”, after the 1979 model
which led to China’s rapid growth over three decades. For
example, there is much discussion of the success beyond
all expectations of the China-founded Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank (AIIB). Intense debate is being carried
out about the Silk Roads in countries that have reason to
worry about some of their implications.