Daniel Wagner lived in China during COVID-19 while working at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as Senior Investment Officer for Guarantees and Syndications in Beijing and in Abu Dhabi as its first-ever secondee, to the COP28 Secretariat as Adaptation Finance Lead.

The AIIB is a Chinese created, domiciled, and led multilateral development bank that remains enigmatic to the outside world. As one of the world's two newest MDBs (the other also based in China), the only people who really understand what the Bank is all about and how it functions are its past and present employees. Very little has been published about AIIB in that regard. Part of this book is an effort to shed some light on the inner workings of the Bank and to pierce the culture of silence that prevails inside it.

The book contains 3 essays: 1. Wagner's chronicle of living and working in Beijing during China's draconian Zero-COVID period (intended to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in China to zero), 2. His experience and unique perspective from inside the Bank as a critic of the CCP and geopolitical risk analyst, and 3. An analysis of China's oversized influence in multilateral organizations, including the AIIB.

Wagner is the author of 4 other books on China: China Vision, The America-China Divide, The Chinese Vortex, and The China Epiphany.