Beijing this week welcomed the appointment of Chinese economist Zhu Min to the role of IMF deputy managing director and called for more such reforms.
China's foreign ministry said the hiring shows the International Monetary Fund's effort to better represent emerging markets among the Fund's board and management.
'We think this has demonstrated the major progress made by the IMF in increasing the representativeness of emerging market economies and developing countries,' said foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei.
'We hope the IMF will further push ahead with reforms so as to make bigger progress.'
58-year-old Zhu was one of the first to be appointed by new IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, who last week promised a greater role for the world's large emerging economies at the top of the organisation.
Although the position was created in respect to the emerging economy, it was expected that someone from China, the world’s second-largest economy, would fill the post.
Zhu's hiring will assuage complaints that the IMF's management team is overly dominated by the more mature economies - the United States, Europe and Japan.
The IMF is already implementing a plan to increase the influence of the largest emerging economies, particularly China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
Ms Lagarde pledges to follow through with that plan, even though it reduces the powerful voting power held by her European backers.
Announcing Zhu's appointment, Ms Lagarde said the former Chinese central banker 'brings a wealth of experience in government, international policy making and financial markets, strong managerial and communication skills.'
'He will play an important role in working with me and the rest of my management team in meeting the challenges facing our global membership in the period ahead, and in strengthening the Fund's understanding of Asia and emerging markets more generally,' she added.
Before being a special advisor to the IMF managing director since 2010, Zhu was a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China and previously served in various positions at the Bank of China.
Zhu also worked six years at the World Bank, and taught at Fudan University in China and Johns Hopkins in the US.
