Q+A-What do China and the IMF want from each other?

ISTANBUL Oct 7 (Reuters) - Efforts to repair strained ties between China and the International Monetary Fund made headway at the IMF's semiannual meetings this week in Turkey.

The Fund needs China's support as it embarks on an ambitious reform agenda, and the world's third-largest economy wants the IMF to help build a global monetary environment conducive to its own sustained growth.

Here are some questions and answers about the quid pro quo between China and the IMF as they draw more closely together.

HOW BIG A SAY DOES CHINA WANT IN THE IMF?

Brazil, Russia, India and China -- known as the "BRIC" economies -- have asked for a 7 percent shift in IMF voting power to achieve a 50/50 balance between the developed and developing world. Publicly, China has not spelled out exactly how big a vote increase it wants for itself.

The G20 summit in Pittsburgh agreed last month to work toward at least a 5 percent transfer of voting power to under-represented nations. China currently holds a 3.66 percent share of IMF votes, less than either Britain or France, though its economy has surpassed theirs in size and the gap is only growing larger. A shift of at least 5 percent is likely to give China more say than those other two older economic powers.

China will get the biggest increase in IMF votes when the global lender completes a long-awaited restructuring in 2011, IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has said. China asked this week that quota shifts be accelerated and proposed automatic adjustments to reflect future changes in the respective size of economies.

WHAT DOES CHINA WANT THE IMF TO DO?

First and foremost, China is clear about what it does not want from the IMF: criticism of its controversial, tightly managed exchange rate policy.

Relations turned frosty when the IMF toughened its exchange-rate monitoring rules in 2007 and Beijing feared it was a ploy by the United States to get the IMF to push for a stronger yuan. China blocked the IMF's annual assessment of the Chinese economy until the Fund reversed the rule change this year.

China was diplomatic but firm this week in Turkey. In welcoming the IMF's supervision of major financial markets, Beijing told the Fund to look at all policies as a whole, and not to "simplistically" focus on individual polices.

China also laid out a vision for the IMF as a stronger regulator of global financial markets, saying it should closely monitor international capital flows and promote exchange rate stability among major reserve currencies.

WHAT DOES THE IMF WANT FROM CHINA?

Money is an obvious part of the equation. The IMF wants more resources to fight future financial crises. Few nations are better placed than China with its $2.1 trillion currency reserves, the world's largest stockpile, to give it cash.

China has committed to buy up to $50 billion in IMF bonds over the next year. The IMF may ask China to give more and to make its funding permanent in return for greater voting power.

BEYOND MONEY, WHAT DOES THE IMF WANT?

The IMF is also looking to China to confer greater legitimacy on it. Having faced intense criticism over its actions in the developing world, the IMF would go some way towards shaking its reputation as the hand-maiden for rich Western nations if Beijing assumed a greater role in its management.

The fact that China came to Istanbul armed with concrete proposals -- not only on IMF reform but also on how it plans to spur domestic demand -- should add to the IMF's confidence that Beijing is ready to be a serious partner.

Coaxing China to change economic policies is also an important, if delicate, objective for the IMF. The G20 has called on the IMF to help rectify global economic imbalances. To do so, it must persuade big exporting nations to consume more at home.

The IMF took pains in Istanbul to say that China was moving in the right direction by building up a social safety net, even if the yuan was undervalued. The IMF will try to nudge China further in its reforms to boost domestic demand. (Editing by Tim Ahmann)