BEIJING — A Chinese air-safety expert and former official was elected the first Chinese head for the aviation arm of the United Nations on March 11.

Liu Fang will succeed Frenchman Raymond Benjamin to take the place of secretary-general the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), to become the ICAO’s first female chief and head from China, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.

Liu was elected through competition with three other candidates from the United Arab Emirates, India and Australia.

The current director of the organization’s Bureau of Administration and Services, Liu previously served in the Civil Aviation Administration of China before she joined the ICAO in 2007.

She will become the fourth Chinese national at a top position of international agencies.

The other three are Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun who is the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Zhao Houlin, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary-General, and Li Yong, current Director General of the U.N.’s Industrial Development Organization.