Article content

ANALYSIS

GENERAL MACARTHUR, Philippines — The new front in the battle for supremacy in Asia does not involve warships, warplanes or missiles — but that oldest of elixirs, money.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or China’s big leap forward with new bank could oust U.S. as prime funder of Asian development projects Back to video

The U.S. has made most of the running for decades in the region, controlling the purse strings through the World Bank and the Japanese-led Asian Development Bank, based in Manila. Now China has upended the postwar financial order, creating the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and giving it US$50-billion in seed money.

The move has caused apoplexy in Washington and Tokyo. The worry is Beijing will soon write the rules for international banking, effectively gaining a veto over many development projects in Asia.

The old way of doing things was evident this spring near the Philippine town of General MacArthur, in impoverished eastern Samar.

Under a scorching sun, several dozen labourers worked on a U.S.-funded 77-kilometre stretch of highway and bridges that will speed up the movement of copra and other crops. But as American economic might wanes, there are likely to be fewer U.S.-funded projects in places such as General MacArthur, named after the commander whose name is synonymous with U.S. military triumphs in Asia.