主题：【整理】法国德国意大利追随英国加入亚投行 -- 懒虫123

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.

As Mr Osborne prepared to unveil the decision, Chinese officials informed the UK Treasury that an unidentified “small European country” would be joining before them, a move that apparently prompted Mr Osborne to bring his announcement forward.

“The Chinese told us that this game between Luxembourg and the UK amused them no end,” said one person involved in negotiations to join the AIIB. “Other countries like France and Germany were not amused at all.”

of finance and onetime

official at the Asian

Development Bank, Mr Jin speaks perfect English and passable French and is the consummate

“barbarian handler”, in the words of several people who have dealt with him.

According to these people, Mr Jin is an Anglophile who likes to quote Shakespeare to the English,

tell the French how enamoured he is of their culture and charm the Germans by telling them they

are his favourites because of their honesty.