That Britain has chosen to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a "surprise decision".

That France, Germany and Italy have reportedly sought to follow suit and also sign up to the AIIB as founding members is "a further blow" to the United States.

Such is the way an otherwise purely economic topic is being framed in the light of China-US rivalry. The AIIB itself is portrayed as a China-led challenge to the US' economic and political dominance.