China would support finance minister Christine Lagarde as the next International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief, the French government said on Tuesday, putting her firmly in pole position to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
“The Chinese support the candidacy of Christine Lagarde,” government spokesman Francois Baroin told Europe 1 radio. China’s foreign ministry offered no comments.
Lagarde has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Strauss-Kahn, who quit last week to fight sexual assault charges in New York. But Mexico is pushing the claims of its central bank chief and many emerging nations have said it is time for Europe’s 60-year grip on the job to be loosened.
An advisor to the People's Bank of China, Xia Bin, told Reuters a bigger issue than the succession was the US’ dominant voting share at the IMF.