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Paris - China would support Finance Minister Christine
Lagarde as the next International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief, the French
government said on Tuesday, backing which would put her in pole position to
succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Lagarde has emerged as the leading candidate to replace
Strauss-Kahn, who quit last week to fight sexual assault charges in New York,
although Mexico is pushing its central bank chief as an alternative and many
emerging nations say it is time for Europe's 60-year grip on the job to be
loosened.
European governments want to retain their traditional control
over the leadership of the multilateral lender while it is involved in major
bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
A number, including Britain and Italy, have said they would
back Lagarde and Ireland added its support on Tuesday. Germany has yet to
declare but Chancellor Angela Merkel says she rates Lagarde highly.
"It's a European consensus," France’s budget minister and government spokesperson Francois Baroin told Europe 1 radio, when asked about Lagarde as a possible contender for the job.
"The euro needs our attention, we need to have the Europeans
(on board), the Chinese support the candidacy of Christine Lagarde," he said.
China's foreign ministry said it had no comment on whether Beijing would back Lagarde, a 55-year-old former lawyer.
The one potential hitch facing Lagarde is a possible legal
probe into her role in a 2008 payout to a prominent businessman to settle a
dispute with a state-owned bank.
Judges will rule on June 10 - the same date countries must submit candidates for the IMF job - on whether to launch an inquiry
Last week, the head of China's central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan,
said the IMF's leadership should reflect the growing stature of emerging
economies, but he stopped short of saying its new boss should be from an
emerging economy.
An advisor to the People’s Bank of China, Xia Bin, told Reuters a bigger issue than the succession was the United States' dominant voting share at the IMF.
Wu Qing, a researcher with the Development Research Centre government think tank in Beijing, said it seemed logical China would support Lagarde or any other well-qualified European.
“It’s not likely that China would back someone from Asia,
especially from within China. There still aren’t many people within the Chinese
system with an extensive international background,” he said. “I don’t think it
matters much to China whether the next IMF head is French or any other
European.”
Ireland’s Europe Minister Lucinda Creighton said it was quite likely Ireland would back a Lagarde candidacy.
“Already you have the backing of New Zealand and a number of
European member states for Christine Lagarde. I think it’s quite possible that
the US will row in behind her as well,” Irish Europe Minister Lucinda Creighton
told state broadcaster RTE.
No one emerging candidate
A “gentleman’s agreement” has always had a European lead the
IMF and an American the World Bank, but fast-growing emerging nations are
seeking a larger role in global organisations.
US Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats told Reuters
Insider TV that Washington was talking to several countries about the IMF
succession. “There are a lot of very qualified candidates,” he said.
Sources in Washington have said the United States would back
a European. The United States and European nations jointly hold more than half
of the IMF’s votes, giving them enough power to decide who leads it. The fund
is currently being run by its No. 2 official, John Lipksy, who has said he
wants to step down in August, and it has set a June 30 deadline to pick a
permanent head.
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, who sources
say could also emerge as a candidate, said on Monday the Fund’s tradition of
choosing its head from Europe had to change.
“You must have open recruitment processes,” he said. “It has
to be wrong for multilateral bodies to have recruitment processes where birth
right is more important than ability. The old order has to pass.”
On Monday, Mexico sought support for its central bank governor, Agustin Carstens, but Brazil appeared reluctant to back him, saying more time was needed to make a choice.
Brazilian government sources said some officials feel
Carstens is a long-shot for the job. Russia has said it would back Kazakhstan's
central bank chief, Grigory Marchenko, as a candidat.
Lagarde, a skilled negotiator and fluent English-speaker who
was named the eurozone's best finance minister last year by the Financial
Times, has not commented on her possible nomination but few doubt she would
want the job.
