Interview: Argentine Interpol chief lauds China's anti-corruption drive

BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The head of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in Argentina hailed on Wednesday China's resolute campaign against corruption.

China's drive to clean up graft was "encouraging" and "worthy of being emulated by other governments that want to combat this crime," Marcelo Orestes De Pierro told Xinhua at his office in the northern Buenos Aires district of Palermo.

"It's important to combat corruption, especially as it often comes from the government," said De Pierro, adding that "in recent years, our government has had ample cooperation with China over political and penal matters."

This type of information exchange is "key to arresting international fugitives," he noted.

Last month, the Information Office of China's State Council published a white paper that regarded China's actions against corruption as a means of protecting the interests of the country.

"The Communist Party of China (CPC) has shown zero tolerance in the fight against corruption," said the document titled "New progress in the legal protection of human rights in China."

The CPC has issued new and more stringent ethical guidelines to prevent and punish systematic corruption.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), or the party's central disciplinary and ethics commission, has investigated more than 440 party members in public office at provincial and national levels.

By the end of October, 2017, a total of 3,587 Chinese fugitives were repatriated to China from more than 90 countries and regions, among whom 701 were former officials. Some 9.54 billion yuan (about 1.44 billion U.S. dollars) in stolen funds was also returned as a result, the CCDI said last month.

In April 2015, Interpol's National Central Bureau of China released a list of 100 "red notice" corruption suspects who had fled overseas.

"In Argentina we have not detected a large number of Chinese citizens who are wanted in China," said De Pierro.

However, thanks to cooperation between the security agencies of both countries, "we have arrested two and the extradition process is fully underway," he added. Enditem