China weighs two Latin American women for next UN secretary-general
Three informal Security Council ballots have failed to produce a clear front-runner to succeed Antonio Guterres. Diplomats cited by the South China Morning Post say China is considering Costa Rican official Rebeca Grynspan and Guyanese ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, while Argentine candidate Rafael Grossi has been ruled out.
China is weighing whether to support Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica or Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana in the contest to become the next United Nations secretary-general, according to diplomats cited by the South China Morning Post. Three informal Security Council ballots have not produced a decisive candidate. The winner will succeed Antonio Guterres, whose second term ends on December 31.
The 193-member General Assembly appoints the secretary-general on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council. A candidate must receive at least nine council votes and avoid a veto from any of the five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The council’s preliminary straw polls ask members whether they encourage, discourage or have no opinion of each candidate.
Grynspan, who leads UN Trade and Development, received 10 encourage votes in the first poll in July. Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana’s ambassador to the UN, led the second round in August. In the third poll, Grynspan received nine encourage votes, five discourage votes and one no opinion, while Rodrigues-Birkett received eight encourage votes and six discourage votes, according to diplomats familiar with the tally.
Other candidates, including International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi, former UN official Olara Otunnu and former Senegalese president Macky Sall, received five encourage votes each. Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet withdrew after a poor result in the third poll. Neither Grynspan nor Rodrigues-Birkett has received a public endorsement from Beijing, although both met Foreign Minister Wang Yi in China this year.
Grynspan reaffirmed the one-China principle and praised China’s support for multilateralism, while Rodrigues-Birkett expressed support for a UN resolution cited by Beijing in its claim to represent China at the organisation. The BRICS summit’s statement that no woman has led the UN and that Latin America and the Caribbean have held the post only once may offer an indication of the political arguments surrounding the contest. The Security Council must still reach agreement before the General Assembly can act.
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