Spotlight: Fresh overseas fugitive hunt reflects China's resolve to fight corruption

China will launch an operation code named "Sky Net" in late March, pooling the resources from several government and Party departments to hunt corrupt officials who have fled abroad.

It will be another major campaign to nab fugitive suspects of economic offenses following the "Fox Hunt" campaign last year.

From April on, involved departments will make joint efforts to capture a group of corrupt officials, clean up illegal certificates, bust underground banks, recover assets involved in criminal cases and persuade fugitive suspects to return home, according to a meeting of the central authority's anti-graft coordination group.

The country's swift action and firm resolve to fight corruption have been lauded by scholars and officials at home and abroad, who expressed belief that its global anti-graft network will be improving continuously despite existing barriers to international judicial cooperation.

CHINA'S RESOLVE

China, in recent years, has chalked up great achievements in its hunt for corrupt officials hidden abroad.

In a report delivered by Procurator-General Cao Jianming on the work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) in 2014, Cao said Chinese prosecutors seized 749 fleeing corrupt suspects from both home and abroad last year.

Among all, 49 suspects were repatriated or were persuaded to turn themselves in from 17 countries including the United States and Canada, Cao said.

"We will actively advance efforts to have fugitive suspects repatriated and recover their illegal proceeds of corruption," the top prosecutor said when outlining the SPP's work priorities in 2015. "The corrupt shall never be allowed to get away with the law."

Chief Justice Zhou Qiang also said the Supreme People's Court (SPC) will actively participate in the repatriation of fugitive suspects and asset recovery. "Foreign countries must not become a safe haven for the corrupt to escape justice," he said.

Huang Feng, director of the International Criminal Law Research Institute at Beijing Normal University, said that the Chinese government now attaches an unprecedented importance to international anti-graft cooperation, and a series of operations launched have demonstrated its strong political will to strengthen efforts in hunting down overseas fugitives and stepping up international judicial coordination.

Stephen Perry, chairman of the British 48 Group Club, said that China has undertaken a serious set of actions for over two years to address economic corruption and crime.

"The work over the last two and a half years will have reassured the people that the right approach and values are in place," said Perry.

The seasoned British entrepreneur and China watcher believed that China's leaders "will not cease till good selfless officials are in the ascendancy again, and business people -- state or private -- are moral and accept the wealth they create comes from the people and needs to be used, in the right amount, to give them social justice."

GLOBAL COOPERATION

In a globalized world, no country alone can tackle the problem of corruption. Countries around the world are strengthening their anti-graft cooperation to eliminate safe havens for the corrupt, which is inevitable and irresistible.

Sanguan Lewmanomont, president of the Thailand-China Law Society, said that the fight against corruption is no longer a nation's internal affair at a time when countries are more interdependent and their interests more closely interwoven.

"It calls for the coordinated efforts of countries worldwide. By working together, more corrupt officials can be brought to justice," said Lewmanomont.

"Fundamentally, those who abuse their position to falsely accumulate wealth are properly to be pursued to face justice wherever they go, subject to the legal systems where they go. Nations ought to assist each other in handling such matters and not provide safe havens for suspected criminals," said Perry, echoing Lewmanomont's opinion.

During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Beijing in late 2014, the Beijing Declaration on Fighting Corruption was adopted, with APEC members pledging to eliminate corruption through extradition and judicial assistance and more flexible legal measures to recover the proceeds of crime.

Cooperation mechanisms are now beginning to bear fruit. In 2014, China finished 10 negotiations on extradition and administrative judicial treaties.

As of November 2014, China has concluded 39 extradition treaties and 52 criminal judicial assistance treaties with other countries, among which 29 extradition treaties and 46 criminal judicial assistance treaties are already in force.

In the meantime, law enforcement cooperation between China and the United States, Canada and Australia, the three major destinations preferred by fugitive Chinese corrupt officials, is also witnessing steady progress. Endi