Australia PM urges greater say for China in IMF

AUSTRALIA: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) must give China a greater say if it wants to accurately reflect global economic reality in the 21st century, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday.

Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking Sinophile, said he would raise the issue at the next month's G20 meeting in London and at his first meeting with US President Barack Obama this week in Washington.

He said that if China was expected to play a major part in IMF efforts to revive the global economy, it deserved a vote that reflected its status.

"Everyone is expecting China to put its money on the table, that's fine," Rudd told Channel Nine television.

"But you know in the IMF, China's voting rights are currently the same as those of Belgium and the Netherlands.

"Now let's just get up with the realities of the 21st century."

Melbourne, Sunday, AFP