Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi has said the race to lead the IMF was ‘open’ after meeting France's Christine Lagarde, who is trying to persuade sceptical emerging nations to back her bid.
‘We had a good discussion. She explained to me the purpose of her candidacy. I listened very carefully,’ Yang told reporters.
‘It's an open field now. There are quite a few people campaigning,’ he said in English.
‘China of course gives serious thought to this very important issue.’
The French finance minister, seeking to be the first female managing director of the International Monetary Fund, travelled to Beijing from India, where a day of talks yesterday with Indian leaders did not yield any public endorsement.
China, India and other emerging nations have baulked at Europe's traditional lock on the top job at the Washington-based IMF, calling the arrangement outdated, so their support is seen as key to the success of Lagarde's bid.
After arriving today, Lagarde launched a marathon day of talks, meeting Yang, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan and vice premier Wang Qishan, China's top official on financial affairs, a French embassy official told AFP.
The French minister, a 55-year-old former international lawyer, was also to hold a dinner meeting with finance minister Xie Xuren.
Earlier, Lagarde said: ‘It was very important for me to come explain the purpose of my candidacy to the Chinese authorities.’
Lagarde is seen as the frontrunner to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last month after his arrest on sexual assault charges.
He pleaded not guilty in a New York court on Monday to the attempted rape of a hotel maid.
Two weeks ago, France's chief government spokesman Francois Baroin said China - the world's second-largest economy - was ‘favourable to the candidacy of Christine Lagarde’, but did not offer any evidence to back up his statement.
China's foreign ministry subsequently said the choice of a new IMF chief should be based on ‘openness, transparency and merit, and better represent emerging markets and better reflect changes in the world economic structure’.
Lagarde - who has already visited Brazil, another major emerging economy - has pledged to reform the IMF to give emerging and developing countries more power.
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said yesterday after meeting Lagarde that the choice of an IMF chief should be based on ‘merit’ and ‘competence’.
He added that talks with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa - who make up the so-called BRICS bloc along with India - aimed at agreeing on a joint candidate were continuing.
Lagarde is to give a press conference tomorrow in Beijing before heading on Friday to Lisbon, where African finance ministers and central bankers will be meeting for the African Development Bank's annual gathering.
The only other serious IMF contender, Mexico's central bank chief Agustin Carstens, visited Canada on Tuesday and was to head to India on Friday on a tour that has already seen him stop off in Brazil and Argentina.
A dozen Latin American countries have thrown their support behind Carstens' bid.
The countries expressed support for Carstens 'and invite other governments in the Americas to join' them, said Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin, reading out a statement at the general assembly of the Organization of American States yesterday.
The countries backing the 52-year-old Mexican banker were Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The deadline for nominations is on Friday, leaving little time for anyone else to emerge.
