China involved in 3,000 Interpol investigations, state media says
Scale of Beijing’s cooperation with global policing agency outlined amid claims of foul play from human rights groups
With the 86th Interpol General Assembly set to open in Beijing on Tuesday, state media reported on Monday that China was involved in about 3,000 investigations currently being handled through the global police cooperation agency.
China’s public security bureaus were working with police teams around the world, the official Legal Daily reported, on cases that involve both the search for Chinese fugitives living overseas and foreign criminals with links to China.
Also on Monday, Xinhua quoted the Ministry of Public Security as saying that it had 64 foreign liaison police officers based in 37 embassies in 31 countries. Last year alone they cooperated with local authorities on 4,460 cases, it said.
Since coming to power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping – who is expected to deliver the opening speech at the three-day general assembly – has staged a wide-sweeping campaign to repatriate Chinese citizens suspected of corruption and terrorism offences.
In that time, Interpol has issued about 200 “red notices” a year at the request of Beijing, according to the Legal Daily report.