Asia keen on 'Mr Yen' as new IMF chief

Asia keen on 'Mr Yen' as new IMF chief

MANILA (Reuters): Japan's campaign to push former top financial diplomat Eisuke Sakakibara as the next IMF chief is being warmly received by other Asian nations eager to break the West's dominance of world financial bodies, officials say.

In a rare show of Japanese diplomatic initiative, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi lobbied for Sakakibara -- known as "Mr Yen" for his former sway over currency markets -- at a weekend meeting of 13 Asian leaders in the Philippine capital and appeared to win strong backing.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) threw its support behind Sakakibara, and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said Seoul would back the former vice finance minister if he decided to run to succeed IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus.

Camdessus said earlier this month that he would be stepping down in February after 13 years in the job and that his successor need not necessarily be a European.

By convention, the United States chooses the head of the World Bank and the IMF job is Western Europe's patch, and analysts said Japan would have a tough task to win the post.

Sakakibara, speaking on television on Sunday, said he had not been formally approached on the candidacy but that various discussions were going on behind the scenes.

Japan has led a chorus of Asian criticism of the IMF's initial handling of the financial crisis which hit the region from mid- 1997. Critics blamed the IMF for exacerbating the crisis with its insistence on austere economic policies in return for financial assistance.

One Japanese official said Asia's strong support for Sakakibara's candidacy reflected its dissatisfaction with the IMF. "It's very much linked to the criticism of the IMF that emerged two years ago when the region was hit by the economic crisis," said the official, who declined to be identified.

"We must change the view that by default the IMF managing director should be a European," he added.

An ASEAN official echoed that sentiment and said Asia needed to cooperate more closely or face continued dominance by the West. "If we don't get our act together, they are going to walk all over us economically," the official said.

The 13 Asian nations -- the ASEAN countries plus Japan, South Korea and China -- on Sunday promised to strengthen economic and political ties to help bring peace, stability and prosperity to Asia.

Officials gathered in Manila said an Asian IMF chief might be able to change policies which they see as dominated by the West, in particular the United States.

"It would be nice if (a successful Sakakibara bid) could lead to the reflection of non-Western voices in the IMF," one official said.

The actual decision on who will succeed Camdessus will likely be made by member governments seeking a consensus on a candidate who satisfies developed as well as developing countries.

Germany was first and fastest off the starting blocks, proposing Deputy Finance Minister Caio Koch-Weser for the position, but other candidates remain in the running.

Sakakibara, now a professor at the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo, won a reputation for plain speaking during his two-year stint as vice finance minister for international affairs, from which he stepped down in July.

He was a key mover behind Japan's 1997 proposal to set up an Asian Monetary Fund to complement the IMF in helping the region out of the crisis, a proposal which ran into a wall of resistance from the United States and the Fund itself.