Interpol event reflects China’s commitment to global security

Rabi Sankar Bosu

Taking the theme of "Connecting Police for a Safer World," the 86th edition of the General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization, commonly known as Interpol was kicked off on September 26, 2017 at Beijing National Convention Center in Beijing, ahead of the pivotal 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), scheduled to begin on October 18 in Beijing.

China is hosting the Organization's annual global police gathering from September 26 to 29, two decades after hosting the 64th session in 1995. Over the years China has been contributing actively to the Organization's vision and mission of making the world a safer place through quality international police cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the opening ceremony of the 86th Interpol General Assembly in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 26, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

Undoubtedly, hosting the world's largest and most prestigious law enforcement event in China is a privilege for the people of China and the two million police officers who serve them. This year's four-day conference is a critical opportunity for police forces to share best practices, set comprehensive police strategies, and arrange police operations to tackle regional crime from a global perspective.

In bringing together public security departments and global security experts from 158 countries and regions under one roof for the four-day conference, China is offering the international police community a secure, exclusive platform to address a wide range of crime areas together and pave the way for confronting them globally.

Established in 1923 and now headquartered in Lyon, France, Interpol is the second largest international organization after the United Nations with 190 members (as of 2016). China became a member state of Interpol in September 1984. Since then, China has always strictly observed Interpol's goal and principles, and promoted cooperation among country members.

Interpol President Meng Hongwei, China's Vice Minister for Public Security, was unanimously elected in November 2016 at the organization's 85th General Assembly in Bali, Indonesia in recognition of China's past support for the organization. He is the first Chinese official to hold the prestigious post for a period of four years. Meng's election to head the organization has given China another seat at an international organization tasked with fighting transnational crimes.

On September 26, inaugurating the 86th Interpol General Assembly, President Xi Jinping in his keynote speech said, "China hopes to work closely with other countries and international organizations for global security governance, and jointly build a community of universal security for humankind." He called on countries to adhere to the UN Charter and Interpol regulations, seriously fulfill conventions against transnational crimes and corruption, and improve relevant international regulations.

Xi emphasized, "Countries, while maintaining their own security, should take into account other countries' security." He asked major countries to offer more support for underdeveloped countries and regions in security and development. Xi vowed to continuously extend China's support to the organization so it can play a bigger role in international law enforcement and global security governance.

Xi's advocacy for cooperation and collaboration in terms of ensuring national security and the fight against transnational crime is very timely and much appreciated. Praising Xi's efforts for Interpol with practical measures, Jurgen Stock, secretary-general of Interpol, said that Xi's support for law enforcement worldwide and endorsement of Interpol's mission to prevent and fight crime are "deeply valued".

Over the years China has made a great contribution to world peace with its solid actions. It's encouraging to note that in his speech, Xi said China will train 20,000 law enforcement officers of developing countries each year. Surely, this will greatly improve Interpol's law enforcement abilities for combating international crime. Xi's offer of concerted efforts in creating a safer world shows the wisdom of a great leader of a peace-loving country.

It should be noted here that since taking the helm of the CPC leadership at the 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012, Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping campaign against corruption. He pledged to go after both "flies" and "tigers" with an iron hand, implying both corrupt low-level functionaries and big powers of Chinese society. His campaign against corruption has made big achievements. More than a million officials have been punished under the crackdown. Undoubtedly, Xi's anti-corruption efforts have been boosting China's economic performance as well as public welfare.

In 2014 China started an operation called Sky Net to hunt for corrupt fugitives abroad. The campaign has effectively stopped corrupt officials from fleeing overseas. In April 2015, Interpol issued "red notices" for the 100 most-wanted corrupt Chinese officials. So far, 40 have returned from more than 16 countries and regions, while half of the remaining fugitives are still on the run in Western countries. Interpol had issued a "red notice" for criminal suspect billionaire Guo Wengui, one of China's most-wanted fugitives.

According to China's Ministry of Public Security, in 2016, China submitted 612 red notice requests to Interpol. Of those, 230 were published, the ministry said. The Chinese police handled 2,542 investigative requests from foreign police forces that were transmitted via Interpol in 2016, an increase of 140 percent over 2015. Last year, China placed 2 million pieces of information on stolen and lost Chinese identification documents into Interpol's database.

According to Chinese police authorities, over the past 18 months, Chinese police have been carrying out regular operations across China, targeting clandestine call centres and the organized crime groups behind them. During this period, Chinese police have investigated more than 119,000 online fraud cases resulting in the arrest of over 88,000 suspects from 7,531 criminal gangs operating in 11,000 call centres across China.

Interpol liaison offices have been established in Guizhou Province and Hubei Province, and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security has provided training for staff to increase cooperation with Interpol on cross-border crime. Xinhua reported that China is currently involved in around 3,000 investigations being handled through the global police cooperation agency. China now has 64 foreign liaison officers based in 37 embassies in 31 countries.

It is worth mentioning that according to China's anti-corruption watchdog, CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), since 2014, 2,566 people, including 410 state officials, were captured or returned from over 70 countries or regions and more than 8.6 billion Yuan (USD 125 million) of illegal assets have been recovered as of March, 2017. The Sky Net campaign alone has accounted for 908 returnees and recovered 2.3 billion Yuan in illegal assets.

China is making waves in international anti-corruption cooperation. China's ideas, measures and practices in fighting corruption are gradually being understood and accepted by the international community. Anti-corruption and law enforcement co-operations with other countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have also yielded positive results.

On September 13, China's Procurator-General Cao Jianming said 174 corrupt officials had returned to face trial, with 1.9 billion yuan ($291 million) in illegal funds confiscated with the judicial assistance of foreign agencies. Cao said officials have taken steps with Western authorities and there were some achievements in the pursuit of fugitives.

This year on May 13, China signed a declaration of strategic cooperation with Interpol to maintain border and trade security, crack down on illegal markets, as well as financial and Internet crimes, and protect key infrastructure facilities, so as to guarantee the security and stability of Interpol members along the Belt and Road Initiative that China is vigorously pushing forward.

The Chinese government has also stepped up efforts along with the governments of Southeast Asian countries like Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines in the fight against poaching, smuggling, and drug crime. Last year, China and three other countries with territory in the Greater Mekong sub-region arrested more than 10,000 suspected drug traffickers and seized 100 million methamphetamine pills during joint operations.

Over the years China has made unremitting efforts to fight transnational criminal activities and nontraditional security threats with other countries and international organizations such as Interpol. Security of a country cannot be ensured by an individual or a single country; rather, joint efforts between governments of various countries are needed in combating corruption, terrorism, cybercrimes, people trafficking, drug trafficking and money laundering to provide safer environments for their citizens. As President Xi said, combating security threats should be a common cause in creating a safer world for all.

(Rabi Sankar Bosu is Secretary of New Horizon Radio Listeners' Club, based in West Bengal, India)