A US campaign helped prevent China’s contender from taking the helm of the World Intellectual Property Organisation — and its trove of 250,000 patents — as part of wider efforts to curb Beijing’s influence at the UN.

Daren Tang, head of Singapore’s intellectual property office, was nominated Wipo’s incoming director-general subject to confirmation from the body’s general assembly in May, the UN organisation said on Wednesday. Mr Tang defeated Wang Binying, currently a Wipo deputy director and a former Beijing trade official, in a second round of voting with 55 votes to 28, according to people briefed on the election.

Mr Tang’s nomination follows a fresh push by Washington to limit China’s influence at the UN. The Trump administration has grown alarmed after Beijing won the leadership of its fourth UN agency last year. No other of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council heads more than one of the UN’s 15 agencies.