The Chinese government hoped the U.S. could view China's anti-graft effort of hunting down fugitives that fled the country impartially, following a U.S. report claiming the Obama administration had demanded China to stop its anti-graft operation in the U.S..
"Strengthening cooperation on anti-corruption and hunting down economic fugitives, corrupt officials and huge amounts of State assets is a consensus reached by international leaders during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and G20 Summit," the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Global Times on Wednesday.
China attaches great importance to such consensus and has launched a series of cooperation with other countries' leaders and their law enforcement departments based on the law of those countries, the ministry said. "We hope the U.S. could impartially look at China's efforts to cooperate on anti-graft operation and hunt down related suspects and recover assets."
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the U.S. government had sent a warning to Chinese officials in recent weeks and demanded a halt to the agents' activities aimed at bringing back suspects who fled China with huge amounts of State assets.
It quoted anonymous officials as saying that China's agents were operating covertly in the U.S. and that China had not provided the requested evidence for the U.S. to help hunt down fugitives.
However, China in March had said that it had provided a "priority" list to the U.S. of Chinese officials who are suspected of corruption and are believed to have fled to the U.S., which analysts have hoped to help with repatriation.
A Xinhua commentary commented on Monday that the U.S. government made a "regrettable move" by halting China's anti-corruption operation as it is "legitimate and has been approved in a bilateral agreement reached earlier this year," and that "Washington lacks sincerity and has failed to translate its words into action."
A total of 680 fugitives suspected of economic crimes have been repatriated to China from overseas as a result of the transnational "Fox Hunt" operation launched from July to December last year. A new operation, codenamed "Sky Net," announced in March, continues the work of "Fox Hunt."
