During the Second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Summit last month, the Chinese government notably shifted its focus and is now downplaying fears of debt encumbrance, corruption, and environmental degradation. But this should not distract us from the key fact that participation in the BRI continues to grow, including from traditional U.S. allies in Asia and Europe.

The China model could lead to more varied views on what works and doesn’t in economic development.

Recent studies have inspired headlines such as “China and U.S. ‘neck and neck’ in foreign assistance spending”. Contrasted against the Trump administration’s apparent contempt for longstanding American support for global development promotion, such headlines seem yet further evidence of China’s emergence as a leader of global economic governance and influence.

Just as President Donald Trump threatens to gut the State Department and Agency for International Development (USAID) budgets for development and foreign aid, China has been stepping up its own international development promotion efforts.

Book Review: Daniel W. Drezner The Ideas Industry: How Pessimists, Partisans and Plutocrats are Transforming the Marketplace of Ideas. Oxford University Press, 2017.

President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States will quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership kills the stillborn deal. For the countries of Southeast Asia who joined this U.S. led pact, it is a moment of reflection over their policy choices, making them seek accommodation with a more certain China rather than a wavering U.S.

As the president-elect makes bold statements and takes symbolic actions relevant to US-Sino relations, perhaps a bit of folklore suggests how to think about wise policy actions.

The economic relationship should have evolved with China and U.S. economies’ “New Normal”, but a variety of fears are in the way. The U.S. would like to decrease its reliance on consumption as the engine of growth, relying more on domestic investment and exports. China seeks more consumer spending, and less reliance on domestic investment and exports. Those goals are highly complementary and mutually reinforcing, creating opportunities that should not be missed.

China has ample fiscal space to cope with any market turbulence triggered by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union but should limit intervention to alter the yuan’s value, said the head of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

China’s six-month old investment bank, the AIIB, has been at pains to portray itself as a new multilateral economic institution governed by written rules and not merely a foreign economic policy puppet of China. However, problems may arise as the South China Sea tribunal ruling nears the official AIIB coming-out party.