China launched a campaign codenamed Sky Net 2025 to hunt down corrupt fugitives, recover illegal proceeds and combat cross-border corruption, according to a meeting of the office for fugitive repatriation and asset recovery under the Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group held on March 24.
The meeting decided that the campaign will be jointly carried out by the National Commission of Supervision, the Ministry of Public Security, the People’s Bank of China, the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the National Immigration Administration. In addition to hunting down corrupt fugitives, recovering illegal proceeds and combatting cross-border corruption, the campaign also aims to deepen international anti-graft cooperation, step up cross-border corruption governance, improve the mechanism for fugitive repatriation and asset recovery, and maintain high pressure on corrupt fugitives abroad.
Ten years ago in March 2015, the campaign Sky Net 2015 was launched, and a net to hunt down corrupt fugitives abroad has spread since then. As of 2024, China has repatriated a total of 14,048 fugitives from more than 120 countries and regions, including 2,999 Party members and government officials, with over 66.62 billion yuan ($9.3 billion) worth of illicit assets being recovered.
The Sky Net campaigns demonstrate China’s determination to combat corruption. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the importance of combatting corruption, saying fighting corruption is the most thorough kind of self-reform there is, and emphasizing the need to take resolute and sustained action to fight corruption, and take simultaneous, coordinated and comprehensive steps to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity or desire to become corrupt. The campaign is of far-reaching significance to consolidating the anti-corruption achievements, safeguarding national interests and maintaining social fairness and justice.
The Sky Net 2025 campaign places priority for the first time on the problem of “naked officials,” or those whose family members have all moved abroad. By strengthening the management of “naked officials,” the country will further improve the supervision of public officials violating regulations on overseas trips for private purposes, and plug the loopholes in the system.
Cross-border corruption governance is an important part of the Sky Net 2025 campaign, with an aim of cracking down on cross-border corruption in the fields of finance, state-owned enterprises and engineering projects, and resolutely repatriating those corrupt officials who infringe upon the interests of the masses.
Corruption is a cancer to the society at all times and all over the country. Anti-corruption has always been a hot and difficult issue in governance of all countries, making international cooperation necessary to combat corruption. The Sky Net 2025 campaign further deepens international anti-graft cooperation, and strengthens cross-border corruption governance through setting up cooperation mechanisms with more countries, which will facilitate the establishment of an international anti-graft governance system of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.
China is actively participating in the formulation of international anti-corruption rules, promoting the institutional construction of international anti-corruption cooperation, continuously expands international anti-corruption cooperation and improves its international influence in the anti-graft field. Through the Sky Net campaigns, China’s efforts in the international anti-corruption field and the international cooperation practice in anti-corruption and fugitive repatriation will help enhance the consensus of the international community on jointly combating corruption and promote the construction of a more just and reasonable international anti-corruption order. –The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
