HANOI, Vietnam (Dow Jones) -- China supports proposed changes to the International Monetary Fund' s voting rights system but they don' t go far enough to empower some developing regions, China' s finance minister said Thursday.

" We welcome the changes as a good start," Jin Renqing said on the sidelines of the 13th annual meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation finance ministers.

" But it doesn' t strengthen the rights of the developing regions, especially Africa, enough," Jin said.

The IMF executive board has recommended two phases of reform to its board of governors, which is expected to vote on the proposals at the fund' s annual meeting Sept. 19-20 in Singapore .

Initially, the IMF would grant a greater role to China , Turke , Mexico and South Korea - countries considered to be the most underrepresented. Over two years, the fund also plans to reconfigure voting shares for other members, including poor African nations and fast-growing countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia .

-By Denis McMahon, Dow Jones Newswires; +86 1381 897 1542; denis.mcmahon@ dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires 09-07-06 0312ET Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.