China's clout rises to match its ambitions with establishment of three institutions

Beijing

SEVEN decades after the end of World War II, the international economic architecture crafted by the US faces its biggest shake-up yet, with China establishing new channels for influence to match its ambitions.

Three lending institutions with at least US$190 billion are taking shape under China's leadership, one of them informally referred to as a Marshall Plan - evoking the postwar US programme to rebuild an impoverished Europe. Also this year, China's yuan may win the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) blessing as an official reserve currency, a recognition of its rising use in trade and finance.

China's clout has been expanding for decades as its rapid growth allowed it to snap up a rising share of the world's resources, its exports penetrated global markets, and its bulging financial assets gave it power to make big individual loans and purchases. Now, the creation of international lending institutions is leveraging that economic influence closer to t…