GENEVA — China is putting forward a senior public health official to lead the World Health Organization, a late entry into the race to succeed Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that diplomats say would expand Beijing’s influence at a moment when the United States has stepped back from the agency.
China’s foreign ministry said Beijing is nominating Song Li, a maternity and women’s health expert who heads the Department of Women and Child Health at China’s National Health Commission. A foreign ministry spokesperson presented the nomination as a demonstration of China’s support for multilateralism and said it would help the organisation play a more active role in improving health worldwide.
A candidacy shaped by experience
Song Li has worked in maternal and child health policy and international cooperation for more than two decades. According to the WHO, she has taken part in or organised the drafting of laws and standards related to women’s and children’s health, including prenatal diagnosis and assisted reproductive technology. In 2020 she edited guidelines in China for COVID-19 prevention and control for women, work aimed at setting national standards for maternal care during the pandemic.
She has also served in senior roles in China’s maternal and child health administration and has participated in expert committees connected to the WHO. If elected, she would become the second Chinese national to lead the organisation, after Margaret Chan, who served as director general from 2007 to 2017.
The nomination arrived after the September 24 deadline that had been set for the role, which is why diplomats described it as a late entry. The WHO is expected to release the complete list of nominees after final regional committee meetings, expected in early November. Song Li will run against candidates put forward by several other countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Spain, Indonesia and Botswana.
The American absence
The timing is inseparable from Washington’s decision to leave. The United States quit the WHO this year after President Donald Trump pulled the country out of the organisation following his return to office in January. Trump has long accused the WHO of being too close to China, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic — a charge the organisation rejects. China, for its part, previously accused Trump of trying to shirk responsibility toward the WHO.
The American departure has had practical consequences beyond politics. The WHO was the recipient of its largest donor’s funding, and losing that support forced a sweeping restructuring: activities were scaled back, senior management roles were cut and thousands of jobs were eliminated. China has announced additional funding for the agency, but diplomats note it is far from filling the gap left by the United States.
A diplomatic source described the planned nomination plainly: it is a clear sign that China wants to fill a void where the United States has stepped back.
Why the job matters to Americans
It is easy for American readers to treat a leadership contest in Geneva as distant. It is not. The WHO leads international efforts to combat disease and health crises, coordinating responses when outbreaks cross borders. Americans encountered that machinery directly during COVID-19, and US health agencies, universities and companies routinely work through systems the WHO helps maintain — from disease surveillance to the standards that shape drug and vaccine work.
Who leads the organisation influences which priorities get funded, how quickly information is shared in a crisis and how much weight different countries carry in rooms where those decisions are made. With the United States outside the structure, the contest takes on a different character than it would have a few years ago.
A wider pattern
Beijing has long sought to take on more responsibility within UN agencies and other multilateral bodies, just as the United States under Trump winds down its engagement with the UN and some of its constituent organisations. The WHO nomination fits that pattern. It also arrives while the agency is managing real-world emergencies, including the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo — a reminder that the leadership question will be settled while the work continues.
Tedros’s term ends in August 2027 and, under the two-term limit, he cannot run again. That gives member states time, but not unlimited time, to weigh candidates whose records will be scrutinised closely — including, in Song Li’s case, questions carried over from the pandemic years about the relationship between China and the WHO.
China has made its move. The full field will be confirmed in the coming weeks, and the campaign for one of the most consequential jobs in global health is now openly under way.
