For all but three of the last 18 years the World Bank’s senior management has had a common theme. Serving high in the ranks alongside its US-appointed president — currently Jim Yong Kim— has been a Chinese official, acting as a vital link to Beijing’s leadership and a voice for a country whose influence is rising within the institution.
With the departure at the end of this year of its top World Bank official, however, China risks losing that seat at the bank’s top table, introducing another potential irritant into an increasingly sensitive relationship between Beijing and both the bank and its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund.
Jin-Yong Cai, a US-educated economist and former Goldman Sachs