Europe widely supports Ms. Lagarde, and the U.S. has given no sign it won't back her effort to succeed former IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. While campaigning to win backing from emerging markets in recent weeks, Ms. Lagarde hadn't won explicit support from important countries such as China.
While Mr. Zhou isn't China's top decision maker in the matter, his remarks are the strongest indication to date that China is prepared to support Ms. Lagarde's bid, and they likely reflect the views of China's top leaders as the fund's decision is so near. The IMF board hopes to make a decision by Thursday.
Mr. Zhou's remarks on Monday suggested that China has offered greater support for Ms. Lagarde behind closed doors than in its public pronouncements, in which Beijing had been noncommittal. France last month said China supported Ms. Lagarde's bid, but China's government hadn't confirmed that, saying only that the process of choosing the next IMF managing director should be open, transparent and based on merit.
Mr. Zhou suggested Ms. Lagarde's chances of clinching the bid are strong.
"Of course we still do not know what the final situation will be. Currently, there doesn't seem to be anything unclear" about the likely result, he said in an interview during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to the U.K.
Ms. Lagarde visited Beijing this month to drum up support for her candidacy.
Read more on this story from The Wall Street Journal.