China has announced its candidate nomination to lead the World Health Organisation and succeed current DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who reaches the end of his second five-year term – the maximum – in August 2027, reports The Japan Times.
In the move that could signal intent to expand its influence at the WHO after the US quit, even though questions persist about Beijing’s transparency over the Covid-19 pandemic, it has nominated maternity health expert Song Li for the job at the US agency, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
Donald Trump has long accused the WHO of being a “puppet of China”, in particular during the pandemic, and pulled the US out of the WHO when he returned to office in January 2025.
The first Covid-19 cases were detected in Wuhan in China in late 2019 and Trump’s administration believes the virus leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan. But the WHO’s Covid-19 origin investigations have proved inconclusive, with all hypotheses still on the table.
WHO shake-up
The US withdrawal left China as the biggest contributor of WHO membership fees, ahead of Japan and Germany.
However, voluntary contributions still make up the organisation’s main source of funding, and China was far from the biggest overall contributor in the 2024-2025 biennium.
Weakened by the American withdrawal and other countries’ cutting foreign aid spending, the WHO was forced to undergo sweeping reforms last year, slashing its budget by more than 20%, cutting hundreds of jobs, and scaling back programmes.
Tedros said the organisation was now on a stable footing.
The WHO website presents Song as the head of the Department of Women and Child Health at China’s National Health Commission, with a career spanning 21 years.
But Chinese media say she has since taken up a role at the All-China Women’s Federation, a Chinese Communist Party organisation, which lists her as its secretary.
Beijing’s nomination “demonstrates China’s firm support for multilateralism” and “will help the organisation play a more active role in enhancing the health and well-being of all humanity”, said Mao Ning.
Mixed reception
Song had mounted a failed bid for the post of Regional Director for WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) in 2023, and some have denied she is now a candidate, suggesting that after losing the 2023 election, Beijing would want a stronger contender for a global race.
Either way, China’s still growing geopolitical range of influence, from the Western Pacific to Southeast Asia and Africa, means it could mount a serious campaign that could permanently shift the delicate balance of power at the WHO, reports Health Policy Watch.
China’s public announcement comes after the 24 September deadline for candidates. The full list will be published by the WHO in early November, but if nominating country wishes, candidates may be announced before then on the WHO website.
In January, the WHO’s 34-member Executive Board will nominate up to three candidates to be submitted to the World Health Assembly of member states, which will choose a winner in May 2027.
Song is running against candidates proposed by Belgium, Botswana, Indonesia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Spain. They include the WHO’s Europe director Hans Kluge and Eastern Mediterranean chief Hanan Balkhy.
If elected, Song would be the second Chinese national to lead the WHO after Margaret Chan, who headed the Geneva-based organisation between 2007 and 2017.
Hindering transparency
Song has sat on several WHO technical committees related to maternal and newborn health, and at the time of the 2023 campaign for WPRO RD, was described as “quietly professional” by global health veteran Mukesh Kapila.
“But will China refrain from influencing her so that she can function genuinely independently? Chinese incumbents in international organisations often remain under obligation to their own authorities, and can even be summoned home if they displease their masters,” Kapila, a columnist and Health Policy Watch board member, asked at the time.
Others are asking similar questions now.
“It would be no surprise if China were to put forward their candidate,” a senior European global health policymaker told Health Policy Watch last week, speaking on the margins of the European Health Forum – Gastein. “They see a chance to fill the power void that the United States has left behind.”
However, the diplomat expressed doubts as to whether Beijing could mobilise sufficient votes to actually win the race.
While acknowledging the risk of increased polarisation within the world’s premier health agency, he described Beijing’s diplomatic approach as “very nuanced,” noting that while Europeans view China as a competitor in some areas, it’s also a partner in others.
Concerns in Washington DC more likely
The prospect of a Chinese Director-General is likely to raise very different concerns in Washington, compared with Europe, said Kieran Bligh, a former WHO staff member doing doctoral studies on global health leadership at George Washington University and a Health Policy Watch fellow.
“The bigger risk is that Washington vacates the space and China fills it,” he said. “The WHO could increasingly become a tool used against US interests while (Washington) has no seat at the table due to the US withdrawal from the agency.”
The potential for China to muster significant votes to any candidate it mounts is significant, observers say. For one thing, China has recently been appointed to the WHO Executive Board (EB) of 34 member states. China joined WHO’s EB governing body in May 2026, after securing the seat at the 2025 WPRO Regional Committee.
In February 2027, the Executive Board will select three finalists for the race – out of the bloc of declared contenders.
Africa’s 54 WHO member states often vote in a bloc on many major WHO policy issues. Forty-seven African states are affiliated with WHO’s African Region, while another seven North and Horn of Africa nations are members of the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the WHO.
“Money matters,” Bligh said. “Those influences do not disappear when governments walk into a secret ballot [at the Executive Board level, or later, at the full World Health Assembly], and debt exposure can be powerful leverage.”
Bligh said if a Chinese candidate were to win the DG race, burning issues like the origins of the SARS-CoV2 virus were likely to be buried forever, and WHO collaborations in future independent inquiries could be suppressed.
To date, China has never responded to WHO requests for blood samples or genetic sequences of the virus from the first patients infected in Wuhan or detailed information about the status of animals sold at Wuhan’s wet markets – where the virus first emerged in late 2019.
Nor has it provided detailed data on the research work and biosafety conditions in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. These are the two leading sources from which scientists believe the virus first began to circulate widely.
WHO needs credible leadership
Magda Robalo, president and co-founder of The Institute for Global Health and Development (IGHD), prefers to see the glass half full rather than empty.
“Supporters might argue this reflects the growing importance of Asian economies in global health. Critics might worry about political influence over sensitive issues involving transparency, disease reporting, or geopolitical disputes,” the former Guinea-Bissau Minister of Health told Health Policy Watch.
“WHO needs a competent, credible and strong leader, able to build consensus among its 194 member states and reform WHO to focus on science, its core strengths and functions, irrespective of nationality or sex,” she said.
“One cannot ignore the fact that current geopolitical tension, mistrust, fragmentation and erosion of multilateralism will certainly increase scrutiny on candidates’ ties and citizenship. A Chinese DG candidate could be seen by some countries as reinforcing China’s influence in international institutions. Health is political after all.
“[But] China has significantly expanded its role in global health over the past two decades through investments in health systems, disease surveillance, vaccine production, and health aid, particularly in Africa and Asia.”
Already the largest WHO contributor
China is today WHO’s largest state contributor in terms of assessed dues, paying the sum of $137.8m in 2026.
At the 2025 Assembly, Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong pledged an additional $500m over five years.
However, the WHO notes that the pledged additional amount is still “to be confirmed”.
The US, meanwhile, owes $280.9m in membership arrears and faces suspension of its vote at the very Assembly that will elect the next DG.
China already holds the top job at another major UN specialised agency. Dongyu Qu, a Chinese national nominated by Beijing, has served as Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation since 2019 and is now in his second term.
Not the first time China has held senior leadership roles at WHO
This would not be the first time senior posts were awarded based on nationalities and not only competencies.
In fact, a DG’s appointments of his or her Assistant Directors Generals and other senior managers are often payback for support received during the campaign.
A Chinese national held a senior position at WHO from May 2023 to June 2025, Ailan Li serving as an Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage: Healthier Populations, under Tedros.
After the 2025 WHO budget crisis leading to staff reductions, her position was eliminated, and she is now the WHO Representative to Thailand.
Chinese national Margaret Chan, first elected in November 2006 and holding the Director General’s post from 2007 to 2017, was the first ever to do so.
But Chan was a native of Hong Kong and a senior health official there during the first SARS outbreak – a period that preceded China’s brutal 2020 crackdown on dissent, Hong Kong’s free media, and its semi-autonomous governance, which the island had seen since 1997. Chan was also a dual Canadian national.
Secrecy adds to potential leverage
The candidacy of any high-level member of the Chinese Communist Party, if it were to materialise, would still be unprecedented in terms of the level and scope of influence it would open up to Beijing.
The technical loophole that has emerged, therefore, makes for a muddy start to a race most global health pundits describe as a crossroads that could determine the very survival of WHO as a robust, independent global health entity in the UN family.
Japan Times article – China announces candidate for WHO chief (Open access)
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