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Multilateral development banks (MDBs) play an important role in world economic processes and global economic governance. Since the establishment of the first multilateral development bank-the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)-MDBs have emerged in three waves, each time as a response to the major changes in the world arena. The creation of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) represents the third and latest wave of MDBs. These new development banks have arisen as a consequence of an historic shift in global economic power from developed countries to emerging economies and more specifically the increase in China's economic might. This article traces the evolution of China's participation in MDBs, characterizes various forms of China's engagement with MDBs in specific periods of history, and explains Beijing's motivation in establishing new MDBs. During almost 40 years of interaction with the multilateral development banks, China has made a great leap forward from large-borrower to creditor status, from ordinary member to the initiator and creator of new MDBs under its auspices. This article identifies the scale, composition and dynamic of MDBs' assistance to China. It points out that despite its eye-catching economic achievements, China remains one of the largest borrowers from MDBs. Yet, in the process of China's participation in MDBs there have been two turning points: in 2004-2005 when China became a creditor, and during the 2008 global financial crisis when China set a course to promote the reform of global governance system and the creation of new China-dominated financial bodies. The creation of new financial institutions is evaluated in the article as indicating Beijing's foreign policy ambitions to assume a leadership role in the global economic architecture, while the fact that China is acting both as a creditor and a borrower in MDBs reflects the incomplete nature of China's modernization efforts and its elevation to the status of a great power with global outreach. Overall, the establishment of new multilateral development banks is evaluated in the article as effective in promoting Beijing's efforts to solidify its position in the world economy and the international system.

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With Trump as a president of the US from January 2017 and his decisive actions, which have undermined many agreements reached by previous American administrations (like withdrawal from the TTP, the Paris climate agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, the UNESCO, etc.), the international system and regional subsystems are under serious reconfiguration and readjustments. This accentuates the necessity to systemize Trump’s actions and initiatives in the realm of foreign policy and foreign trade, to interpret these actions’ logic, and to evaluate the changes that Trump’s policies have brought about. It is of high importance to analyze Trump’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific which is the priority region in his foreign policy agenda and the region where two major threats to the US and its allies are coming from - the rise of China as a country that pursues unfair trade and economic policies and reveals assertiveness in securing its core interests, and the threat from the North Korea. The aim of the article is to analyze China’s place in Trump’s Indo-Pacific strategy. By studying American conceptual documents, Trump’s and other American high-level officials’ speeches, the article characterizes Trump’s free and open Indo-Pacific strategy, reveals its commonalities and peculiarities vis-à-vis Obama’s rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific strategy. The article also addresses the issue of Trump’s policies in the region on the economic front, because this is where Trump administration has introduces dramatic changes. Trump’s Indo-Pacific strategy is examined in the article in the context of its impact on the US-China relations. The relations between the two countries - without exaggeration, one of the most consequential for the world - may seriously deteriorate due to not only the evolving US-China trade war, but also contradictions between them over various issues in the IndoPacific region. The article analyzes the aggravation of tensions between the US and China in 2017-2018 over South and East China Seas, Taiwan issue, and North Korea issue.