![]() ![]() When China decided to launch the AIIB, the United States, Japan and most other Western countries were openly sceptical. Nakao’s account of the establishment of the AIIB sheds significant light on the political tensions underlying international financial cooperation in Asia. Over the years, Nakao and his colleagues at the ADB have provided China with consistent and sound economic advice, but with Xi’s growing emphasis on party and state control, it is not clear how much impact this has had. Nakao provides details of his discussions with three successive finance ministers as well as other senior officials, including Vice Premier Liu He, Xi’s closest economic adviser. The most interesting chapters are on Nakao’s engagement with China, including the establishment of the AIIB and the BRI. The Asian Development Bank provides assistance to its developing member countries, the private sector and public-private partnerships ( ADB/Flickr) ![]() Sections of the book, which at first seem like a digression – on how to deal with the media, conduct effective conference calls and draft joint statements at international meetings – are in fact useful for international financial professionals and not readily found elsewhere. Recounting his time at the ADB, Nakao describes the day-to-day running of the president’s office, the internal workings of the ADB and how he interacted with the bank’s board of directors. While at the ministry, Nakao established a solid network of global contacts that would serve him well at the ADB. In 2011, one of Nakao’s less thankful tasks was explaining to his international counterparts the government’s large-scale intervention to stabilise the rapidly appreciating yen. The latter position is frequently a stepping stone to the ADB presidency, which has so far always been held by a Japanese national. Nakao starts with an account of his years at Japan’s Ministry of Finance immediately preceding his assignment to the ADB, as director-general of the International Bureau and, subsequently, vice minister of finance for international affairs. One of Nakao’s less thankful tasks was explaining to his international counterparts the government’s large-scale intervention to stabilise the rapidly appreciating yen. At the same time, Xi launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has in less than a decade become the world’s largest – and most controversial – source of infrastructure finance. Both were intended as alternatives to the World Bank, ADB and other existing development banks. In 2014, the five BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – established the New Development Bank, with its headquarters in Shanghai, and in 2016 China launched the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). He served for seven years until January 2020, overseeing an intense period of change in Asia, dominated by China’s rapid and assertive rise under Xi’s leadership.ĭuring his presidency, Nakao also had to deal with the emergence of new financial institutions that challenged the role of the Bretton Woods-led global financial architecture. ![]() In April 2013, just five months after Xi Jinping took office as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Takehiko Nakao was appointed president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Memoir of the President of the Asian Development Bank 2013–2020 (Asian Development Bank, 2022) Book review: Takehiko Nakao, The Rise of Asia: Perspectives and Beyond.
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