Horse trading and arm twisting as US battles China over leadership of UN intellectual property agency
- Critics say candidate Wang Binying, now the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s deputy director general, would help spread Beijing’s ‘malign influence’
- A Wang victory would give China five top spots at specialised UN agencies – the US has four – and expand its ability to project its world view
A scrum is heating up behind diplomatic doors as US and European opposition mounts to a Chinese national heading the UN agency overseeing intellectual property.
The jockeying centres on the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo), a Geneva-based agency with a large discretionary budget and outsize role in global patents and trademarks.
Officially, there are 10 candidates vying for the post of director general. But the real contest is between China’s Wang Binying, Wipo’s current deputy director general, and Singaporean Daren Tang Heng Shim, who heads the intellectual property office of the Singaporean government, insiders say.
Washington, Brussels, Tokyo and Taipei are scrambling to line up support for Tang, appealing to allies and pressuring Japanese and Estonian candidates to withdraw, say persons close to Wipo. In doing so, they hope to counter China’s vast resources and diplomatic clout in the developing world where most votes reside.
Western ambassadors and US officials, including President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have urged Brazil to support its native son Jose Graca-Aranha, a senior Wipo official and potential compromise candidate, three people said, but Brasilia has balked at doing so because of internal politics.