I knew that it was designed to be a rival to the World Bank, or so I thought.
The legacy financial institutions, whatever their storied accomplishments are, did not take into account the rising economic heft of China. That, from a Chinese point of view, meant they should go and create their own vehicle for multilateralism and show the world that they could convene a multilateral institution that could meet the same requirements of multilateral finance as the western-based MDBs, but to do so in an Asia-based way consistent with China's geopolitical interests.