President Xi pushes for anti-corruption manhunts overseas. (Photo : Getty Images)
Pursuant to the call of President Xi Jinping's call to crack down on corrupt government officials, the government wants to step up its campaign and start chasing offenders overseas.
The drive is called "Sky Net" and the government has been active in looking for officials who fled the country to evade corruption charges. The campaign started in 2014.
China has been trying to get international support for the initiative. Some countries were reluctant to support the campaign as the Chinese government failed to provide evidence.
An unnamed public security official said, "While the previous priority was collecting evidence in overseas manhunts, the recovery of assets acquired illegally in China will be a new anti-corruption initiative in the coming months."
The task was "very difficult," admitted Huang Shuxian, deputy head of the graft-busting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
The government plans to work with the Central Bank to trace the billions of dollars that were transferred from China to various international accounts.
The unnamed official said that they foresee that many will be arrested in Europe and South America.
He said, "Several more fugitives will be extradited from Europe and South America in the near future."
In 2015, the government already gave "light punishments" to accused officials while 80,000 were given heavy penalties.
Another campaign launched in 2014, called operation Foxhunt, resulted in the return of 700 suspected economic fugitives. The operation of the campaign was published by the state newspaper.
The operation involved repeated phone conversations with the accused in returning to China. However, officials realized that face-to-face interventions were more effective.
"My experience is that the effect of face-to-face persuasion and persuasion by telephone is totally different," Li Gongjing, an official for public safety, said.
