Senior fellow Vijaya Ramachandran and senior fellow Alan Gelb were quoted in a Financial Times article on China.
From the Article
When a shift in voting power at the World Bank saw China overtake large European nations last year, it was hailed as a long overdue measure that went towards recognising the Asian giant’s status as the world’s third-largest economy.
China’s voting share rose to 4.42 per cent from 2.77 per cent, above that of the UK, France and Germany, but the country’s influence still falls far short in terms of personnel representing it on international public sector and multilateral bodies, such as agencies of the United Nations.
Historical factors have contributed to the under-representation of Chinese nationals at senior levels but several factors could bring about changes in the balance of nationalities within international institutions over the next decade.
High-profile senior officials such as Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organisation, Justin Lin, the World Bank’s chief economist, and Zhu Min, adviser to the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, have all helped to raise these institutions’ profiles within China and to raise interest among young Chinese regarding their career choices.
Since the 1980s, Chinese students have flocked to study abroad, helping to create a pipeline of candidates with the language and cultural abilities suitable for a senior international role. But some analysts say that until international organisations fully reform their structures to reflect today’s world, rather than the post-second world war balance of power, they will fail to ensure representation of their entire membership, including many fast-developing countries, not just China.
“These institutions have not kept up with the changing world and have made very minor reforms, such as giving small amounts of additional shares. They’ve made loud noises about reforming voting structure but it’s very minor in comparison to the enormous growth of China,” says Vijaya Ramachandran, senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development, an independent policy research organisation in Washington.
She has conducted research showing that at the World Bank and the IMF, China has 25 votes per billion dollars of gross domestic product while Belgium has 103.