A top Chinese police official has been elected head of Interpol as Beijing pushes for former officials and other corruption suspects to be returned from abroad.
China’s Xinhua News Agency reports Vice Public Security Minister Meng Hongwei was named as the first Chinese national to hold the post at the organization’s general assembly on the Indonesian island of Bali on November 10.
“He is the first Chinese official to take the post,” Xinhua said.
His predecessor was Mireille Ballestrazzi from France.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has reportedly led a more-than-four-year-long campaign against corruption and China filed a list of 100 of its most-wanted suspects with Interpol in April 2014. The drive is led by the Communist Party’s internal watchdog body, prompting questions about its transparency and fairness.
China has worked bilaterally with countries around the world, and through the France-based organization, to chase down Chinese suspects as part of President Xi’s sweeping campaign against corruption.
In 2014, China issued an Interpol “red notice,” the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant, for its 100 most-wanted corruption suspects who have fled overseas. It has said it has brought back at least one-third of them so far.
China has been seeking more international cooperation to hunt down suspected fugitives since Xi began the drive against deeply rooted graft about four years ago.
Western countries, however, have been reluctant to help, or to sign extradition treaties, not wanting to send people back to a country where rights groups say mistreatment of criminal suspects remains a problem. They also complain China is unwilling to provide proof of their crimes.
Duan Daqi, a Chinese national, is currently an Interpol vice president whose term ends in 2018. China joined Interpol in 1984.
