The official launch of the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) put the new multilateral financial institution in the spotlight. But, as William Shakespeare cautioned, all that glistens is not gold.
The nascent AIIB still has much to do to prove itself. Nevertheless, the world should be confident about the man at the helm of the new bank. The AIIB struck gold with its president-designate Jin Liqun, an avid fan of William Shakespeare and whose surname means "gold" in English.
The walls of his office in downtown Beijing are lined with book shelves, many of which are in English and French, and tomes are within reach no matter where you stand.
The son of a teacher, Jin was born in east China's Jiangsu Province in 1949, and developed his appetite for reading when he was a child. He became interested in English when he was in middle school and would spend his spare time trawling through the English collection at libraries to discover original works.
The autodidact once awed his classmates in high school with an English essay that far surpassed the vocabulary and knowledge levels of even his older peers. During the ten years he spent in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, Jin kept reading English books.
The works of Shakespeare were to become one of his favorite learning materials, lines from which Jin would readily quote. In 1978, when the national college entrance examination resumed, Jin was accepted by a top foreign language college to study for a masters degree in English literature.
As the youngest student in his class, Jin impressed his peers with his confidence and hardwork. Xu Guozhang, a renowned English literature scholar who taught him, called Jin "a very clever boy."
Upon graduation, Jin had the choice of two job offers -- remain at the college to teach English literature or work at the Chinese executive board office of the World Bank. "It's not hard to find an English literature scholar in China, and not easy to find many experts in economics and finance.
It's worth a try and I believe that you can make it," Xu told Jin. Thus Jin chose the latter offer, embarking on an impressive 35 year career in the financial world. From the Ministry of Finance to the Asian Development Bank and then to China's sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation and China's first joint venture investment bank China International Capital Corp., Jin has a shining leadership record in the public and private sectors and multilateral development institutions.
As a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in the Economics Graduate Program at Boston University and a professional banker, Jin never gave up his scholarly aspirations. He continued to collect Shakespeare's works, translated the classic banking history "The House of Morgan" and published a book on British poems.
He also has a book on Shakespeare's works that has been an ongoing project for many years. He is known for his outstanding time management philosophy and skills."I am always reading or writing during trips.
Tiny drops make the sea. You will make a difference by utilizing every minute," Jin said. Jin has played a central role in tying China's economic affairs with those of the world by representing China in talks with the United States, UK, APEC and other bilateral and multilateral dialogues.
They called him the diplomat in financial circles. At the age of 66, Jin took a new mission. As secretary general of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat of AIIB, Jin and his team successfully convinced 57 countries both from developed and developing countries to join the China-initiated multilateral bank.
"China has received much support from multilateral financial institutions and aid during the past three decades. The world's second largest economy is now sharing the responsibility and doing something for the rest of the world, hence the establishment of AIIB," Jin said.
Jin has a passion for helping less developed regions. This was influenced, in part, by the 10 years he spent planting grain, running factories, teaching rural kids and chatting with farmers. "I will never forget their needs, their expectations and aspirations.
The experience in the countryside has changed my life, and now it's my obligation to change theirs," Jin said.
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