In February, Zhu Min, former vice president of the People’s Bank of China, was appointed as a special advisor to IMF managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Speculation that Strauss-Kahn is to leave in order to stand for the French presidency is rife. No procedures are yet in place for an open, merit-based selection process for IMF senior management despite that being promised by the G20 last year (see Update 68). A comment piece by journalist Wei Gu suggests China may have expected a more senior slot, ideally unseating Japan to take the deputy managing director chair. She concludes, “Zhu’s appointment may help speed up the process. But China is still some way from taking its place at the IMF’s top table.”