BEIJING - China said Thursday it wants the next International Monetary Fund leader to be selected through "democratic negotiation".

Citing a consensus reached by the Group of 20 major developed and developing nations, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the selection should be "open, transparent, merit-based".

The selection should also seek to increase the presence of emerging markets and better reflect the changes in the global economic layout, she said.

"(China) hopes that on the basis of the above principles, all sides can make a decision through democratic negotiation," she told a regular press briefing.

A decision by the 24-member IMF executive board is expected by the end of June. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde launched her bid on Wednesday. Other possible candidates include Mexico's central bank governor Agustin Carstens.

China and other developing countries have pushed for changes in the IMF and its sibling organization, the World Bank, to reduce the dominance of Western governments and Japan and reflect the growing economic strength of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Many European countries, including Germany and Britain, have offered their backing to a Lagarde candidacy. 

The Washington-based IMF lends money to countries and regions to help resolve balance of payments problems and financial crises.

The leader of the IMF always has been a European while the World Bank president has been an American, an arrangement that developing countries have criticized.