The founder of modern Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, who passed away recently, had a rather pointed assessment of what’s known as the U.S. “Asia pivot” policy: Americans think of international relations like a movie, imagining that we can hit the pause button when we need to and then push play when we want to return. No doubt, there has been much for the U.S. to focus on elsewhere in the world recently, from Russia to Iran. But in past weeks, it seems that the movie in Asia has been on fast-forward around global development and financing. And once again, the U.S. is scrambling to catch up.