America’s opposition to China’s creation of an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is degenerating into a self-defeating farce. Having failed to prevent western allies from joining the fledgling bank, Washington has been left scowling on the sidelines. The Obama administration’s handling of the issue has been embarrassing — and it may hold ominous portents for Asia and the rest of the world.

This week, 57 prospective members assembled in Singapore to devise the rules of the new Beijing-sponsored development institution. Among those attending are US allies such as the UK, France, Germany and South Korea. Aside from Washington, only Canada and Japan have stayed away.

Since 1945, the US has played a hegemonic role in the world’s financial system, propped by the might of the dollar and the lapidary heft of the Bretton Woods institutions: the World Bank and IMF. Top dogs rarely welcome a pushy rival. Surrendering the role of primus inter pares is hard.