The announcement by George Osborne, UK chancellor, on March 12 that Britain would join China’s answer to the World Bank — a move in defiance of US pressure and advice from its own diplomats — was not just a surprise to allies in Europe and Washington. It also caught Beijing unawares.
The UK Treasury had told Chinese officials it would not announce its application to join until March 17. But once other European countries got wind of Britain’s plan to join the nascent Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the ensuing scramble to follow suit convinced London to move the announcement forward five days.
In the end, Luxembourg beat Britain by one day, signing up on March 11 but asking China to keep it secret for two weeks in case its application to join the bank was unsuccessful. Switzerland joined on March 13 and France, Germany and Italy signed up together on March 16. Austria joined a week later.