China starts international manhunt with belt and road corruption in its sights
- Directive by top anti-graft watchdog follows vow that Beijing is committed to a ‘clean Silk Road’
- Police will work with central bank under ‘Operation Skynet’ to crack down on underground banks and offshore companies transferring illicit assets
Beijing’s top anti-graft watchdog urged cadres to be “daring and skilled in fighting the domestic and international battlefields, and deeply advance the pursuit of fugitives and asset recovery and cross-border corruption governance”, according to a report in the official People’s Daily on Wednesday.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) made the call in a meeting on Tuesday with multiple agencies involved in the cross-border corruption hunt, the report said.
“[We] must strengthen the integrity of building the Belt and Road Initiative and reinforce the high-pressure stance against corruption to provide strong support and a firm guarantee for winning the tough and protracted battle against corruption,” the CCDI said.
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The belt and road global trillion-dollar trade and infrastructure programme was launched in 2013 with the promise of being a New Silk Road, and is President Xi Jinping’s signature project.
More than 150 countries from Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America have signed up for the massive project, offering Beijing a chance to promote economic integration.
However, as it enters a second decade, its integrity and transparency have frequently come into question in international discourse. The project has been seen by Washington and its allies as a geopolitical weapon which increases China’s leverage in countries to which it has granted loans.
And its large-scale, government-led and top-down approach to investment makes it vulnerable to the elite interests of participating countries and local kleptocracies.
In response to rising concerns about the belt and road scheme, Beijing has pledged on multiple occasions to keep it free from bribery and corruption.
Beijing’s multi-agency operation, which has entered its 10th year, involves several ministries, including the Ministry of Public Security, hunting for officials who have gone overseas.
Under “Operation Skynet”, Chinese national police will work with the People’s Bank of China to crack down on underground banks and offshore companies used to transfer illicit financial assets.
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The Central Organisation Department, in charge of the party’s apparatchiks, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate will also play a role in targeting escaped suspects.
In 2021, Xiao Pei, deputy secretary of the CCDI, said 9,165 fugitives had returned to China and more than 21.7 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in stolen money had been recovered since the campaign was launched in June 2014.
