China warms up to the UN

A Chinese bird flu expert may soon head the World Health Organization (WHO). If Margaret Chan’s nomination goes through, she’ll be the first Chinese to head a major U.N. agency She managed to avoid being tarred in the China SARS scandal and won accolades during her time as health director in Hong Kong.

Chan was Hong Kong’s health director during the SARS outbreak in 2003. She joined WHO later that year and took over as the agency’s influenza pandemic chief in 2005. As an assistant director-general, she has led WHO’s efforts to fight communicable diseases and most immediately to prepare for a possible pandemic should the bird flu virus mutate into a strain easily transmitted among humans. 

It’s a milestone for China, which has become increasingly active in U.N. affairs. Let’s not forget that China now contributes more U.N. peacekeeping troops than any other permanent member of the Security Council. The days when China saw the U.N. as little more than a cabal of Western powers may be ending.