Michael O'Leary, head of WHO's office in China, told reporters in Beijing on Monday that the international health organization had confidence in China's efforts to track and control the outbreak of H7N9 infections, but that growing interest in the virus globally has prompted WHO to consider sending a team.

NPR: WHO Talks With China On Sending Bird Flu Team

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, another sibling, who is the defence secretary, has noted that the president has visited China five times in office and three times before.

ECONOMIST: Brotherly love, massive aid and no questions asked

The candidate who came the closest to their ideal may have been Mr. George Bush, who assumed office unusually prepared for foreign affairs, having served as America's envoy to China and the United Nations.

CNN: Election Watch

They secured funding from the Ford Foundation through Joan Kaufman, a Harvard Professor who has studied China's family-planning policies since the early 1980s and worked in the foundation's Beijing office between 1996 and 2001.

WSJ: China's One-Child Plan Faces New Fire