The writer is director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University

The heated attack against IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva is not really about the alleged sanctity of World Bank data or about the quality of her management. It is about the role of China in a Washington-based multilateral institution. Many in the US Congress want Georgieva out because she is not a sworn enemy of Beijing. 

According to three Republican congressmen in their letter to Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, the allegations against Georgieva “illustrate how the Chinese Communist party, in pursuing its self-interest, undermines multilateral institutions such as the fund, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations. China feels entitled to a greater say in how these international organisations operate; its lack of commitment to multilateral values demonstrates why it must not be allowed to.”