Robert Wihtol

Robert Wihtol is Adjunct Faculty at the Asian Institute of Management and former Asian Development Bank Country Director for China and Director General for East Asia.

Articles by Robert Wihtol (7)

Robert Wihtol 6 Nov 2020 06:00

China’s problematic lending comes home to roost

Pressure is mounting for China to join international debt-management initiatives.
Robert Wihtol 31 Jul 2020 13:00

Book review: Superpower showdown

The fraught relationship between the United States and China is set to deteriorate further.
Robert Wihtol 6 Jul 2020 12:00

Book review: The making of Putin’s Russia

How did an uncharismatic former mid-level KGB spy rise to the pinnacle of Russian politics?
Robert Wihtol 28 Nov 2019 15:00

The new development banks: Paradigm shift or poor imitation?

The multilateral development banks set up by China and the BRICS countries have evolved quickly from concept to reality.
Robert Wihtol 9 Feb 2018 11:58

Review: Asia on a knife-edge

A newly released book by John West takes a guarded view of the world’s most promising region.
Robert Wihtol 14 Jun 2017 12:29

Beware the infrastructure debt trap

Geopolitical and economic rivalries can see projects of questionable value get pushed through without proper assessment of financial and economic viability.
Robert Wihtol 27 May 2015 09:59

AIIB: US is not the only loser, and China is not such a big winner

The recent rush by Western countries to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) before the 30 March deadline set by China was widely, and rightly, seen as a policy failure for the US. Earlier, the US had openly opposed the bank. The US has also resisted reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, reforms which might have deterred the emerging economies from establishing new banks.