New Asian Development Bank Seen As Sign Of China's Growing Influence

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China says 57 countries have signed on as charter members of its new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. They include close allies of the U.S., countries that added their names despite pressure from the White House not to join. The Obama administration is concerned the new bank will compete with Western-led institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But leaders of those institutions don't seem worried. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: The AIIB, as it's called, will be a chance for China to extend its influence by financing big infrastructure and development projects throughout Asia. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim told reporters today that he welcomed the new bank. He said there's plenty of need for infrastructure spending.

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JIM YONG KIM: Our full expectation is that we'll be - continue to work with them very closely and that there are many projects that I could foresee either co-financing or working together on.

ZARROLI: Kim spoke at the semiannual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are taking a more cautious stance. They say they're not averse to working with the new bank as long as the projects it finances observe environmental and worker safeguards. Still, the AIIB is being seen by some as a sign of diminished U.S. influence in the financial system.

LARRY SUMMERS: We're contemplating a major institution in which the United States has no role that the United States made substantial efforts to stop and a failed.

ZARROLI: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says the creation of the AIIB will undermine the leadership role the U.S. has long enjoyed in global finance. And he sees it as something of a self-inflicted wound by the U.S. He says China acted in part because Congress refused to approve governance reforms that would have given Beijing more power at the IMF. Meanwhile, Washington has imposed tough standards on the World Bank that have dragged out the approval process for new projects.

SUMMERS: In a world where others have gained and in a world where we have had trouble meeting our obligations and living up to and ratifying our agreements, we have lost influence.

ZARROLI: Harvard economist Ken Rogoff is more sanguine. He says China is already pouring money into development projects around the world. By lending money through a new multilateral institution, it will be forced to become more transparent.

KEN ROGOFF: I think the right way of looking at it is China's doing this stuff anyway. They're going to normalize it. They're going to have the British and others give them advice. And I think it's probably something we should welcome.

ZARROLI: Rogoff says that as a rising power, it's natural for China to seek a bigger leadership role in the world. The AIIB could be a way to do so in a more constructive manner. He says the United States probably should have welcomed China's move early on. It's failure to block the new bank has only underscored China's growing financial might. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.