A Two-Pronged Approach

Although the Chinese have been working with others to undermine the existing global order -- see "New Moscow-Beijing Axis to Restrain the West," for example -- that doesn't mean they aren't also trying to re-orient established mechanisms and institutions to their own liking. In fact, they seem to have adopted a multi-pronged approach, which sometimes means playing the game according to others' rules. In "China Eyes Key IMF Post," Dow Jones Newswires highlights one such example:

Zhu Min Is Shifting to the Central Bank to Prepare for Job

BEIJING -- China is grooming a veteran banker with a doctorate in economics to vie for a senior job at the International Monetary Fund, in the latest sign of the country's desire to increase its role at the global financial institution.
 
An official of China's Communist Party who's knowledgeable about the matter said Zhu Min, executive vice president at Bank of China Ltd., will become a vice governor at China's central bank with the hope he eventually will compete to be named an IMF deputy managing director.

The official, who declined to be named, said the party has approved the appointment of Mr. Zhu at the People's Bank of China, and the State Council, China's cabinet, will later announce it. Spokesmen for the central bank and Bank of China couldn't be reached for comment.

The IMF currently has three deputy managing directors, who like the managing director are employees of the organization rather than of their home governments. They are appointed through a political process among IMF members.

One reason China wants to eventually propose Mr. Zhu for the high-level IMF post is that he has worked at an international financial organization, the official said.

Mr. Zhu, who earned an economics doctorate at Johns Hopkins University, was an economist at the World Bank from 1991 to 1996. According to the Bank of China's Web site, he is 55 years old.

The IMF has been getting a overhaul as China and other developing countries seek greater clout at the fund to match their increased weight in the global economy.

Leadership of the IMF and other global financial institutions has been a sore point for developing countries. Under a longstanding informal political deal, Europe appoints the IMF head while the U.S. names the World Bank chief and Japan leads the Asian Development Bank. The Group of 20 economies has agreed to end that arrangement.

One of the IMF's three deputy managing directors is a Brazilian, Murilo Portugal, selected in 2006. Last year, Justin Yifu Lin of China became the first World Bank chief economist from a developing country.

Mr. Zhu, who's been at Bank of China since 1996, has helped oversee its restructuring and public listing. He will become the PBOC's sixth vice governor.

Comments

[roger]

The Chinese have way more knowledge on the Capitalist system
than the brightest of our economic gurus, they have a strong
materialist philosophy to guide them as opposed to our truncated
Idealistic one,the only big imponderable is ecology. No doubt in
my mind they will be / are the dominant force in the world.westerners
may pray that they will show more humanity than we did,