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China wants World Bank fairplay

Uwe HeßlerMarch 26, 2012

China seeks a stronger say for developing counries in the World Bank. A demand seen favoring two emerging nation candidates for the bank presidency, in attempts to undo an unwritten US-Europe pact.

https://p.dw.com/p/14SDJ
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
Image: dapd

China said it wanted "the voice of developing countries" taken into account when choosing a new leader for the global development lender.

"The head of World Bank should be selected based on the principles of fairness, openness and transparency," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Monday.

China is the World Bank's third largest shareholder, after the United States and Japan, and apparently seeks to end US dominance at the head of the bank.

Thanks to an unwritten pact between Europe and the US, all 11 World Bank presidents have been Americans, while all International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing directors have come from Europe.

In an attempt to undo the pact, two non-American candidates have staged bids to replace Robert Zoellick, the current Bank president who will leave office in June when his five-year term ends.

"We should heed the voice of developing countries so as to ensure their representation in the World Bank and other financial institutions," Hong Lei added.

Reflecting global shift

The Bank's 25-member executive board is scheduled to interview three candidates in the coming weeks, aiming to select the new president "by consensus" in April.

The candidates are US nominee Jim Yong Kim - currently president of Dartmouth College – Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is backed by Nigeria, South Africa and Angola, as well as Jose Antonio Ocampo from Columbia, supported by Brazil.

Highlighting the need for a "voice in running things," Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters news agency Monday: "The balance of power has shifted and emerging market countries are contributing more than 50 percent to global growth."

Last year, China supported European Union candidate Christine Lagarde in her bid against several non-European candidates to become leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Even though Beijing has not yet come forward in support of any of the two non-US candidates, its call for greater fairness in selecting the new World Bank leader could be directed specifically towards the EU.

uhe/gb (Reuters, AFP)