The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) hosted an In-House Meeting with Dr. Lai-Ha Senior Lecturer, Social & Political Sciences Program, University of Technology Sydney, Australia and visiting Fung Global Fellow at Princeton University.
Dr. Lai-Ha gave a presentation on “US Pivot to Asia: China’s Geostrategic Rationale for Establishing the AIIB”.
Dr. Lai-Ha spoke about the concept of aid in the liberal international order which is mainly advocated by the United States. When developed countries provide aid even under the banner of IMF or the World Bank, some conditions are always attached in which the recipient country has to modify its political system and economic structure. On the other hand, China does not impose these kinds of conditions. The rise of China has instigated a lot of debate at the international level. Limiting her focus on development aid under the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Dr. Lai-Ha put forward two questions: what is the rationale for China to establish the AIIB; and, how effective is China’s soft balancing strategy?
