Xi proposes stronger global security governance
President addresses Interpol General Assembly
China hopes to work closely with countries and international organizations on global security and to build universal security for humanity, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony of the 86th Interpol General Assembly in Beijing on Tuesday.
With nearly 1,000 participants including high-ranking security and intelligence officials from 158 countries and regions, the four-day conference will see opinion leaders forge operational alliances to tackle present and future crime threats, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Chinese president vowed stronger support for Interpol in the next five years to raise its global influence and leadership by organizing international joint operations, increasing law-enforcement capacity for developing countries and building up a global personnel training system. Xi pledged support for Interpol in building strategic research institutions and pension funds for police who died on duty.
Interpol President Meng Hongwei presided over the opening ceremony.
Based in Lyon in France, Interpol is the world’s second-largest international organization after the United Nations, with 190 members. “Countries, while maintaining their own security, should take into account other countries’ security,” President Xi said at the
opening ceremony. He asked major countries to offer more support for less developed countries and regions in security and development.
“More and more people believe China is one of the most secure countries in the world, which is an important contribution China has made to the world,” Xi said. “China has actively participated in global law-enforcement cooperation and global security governance, resolutely supported the international fight against terrorism and joined global cooperation in combating cybercrimes, worked with other countries in fugitive repatriation, fighting telecom fraud and other crimes.”
According to information provided by the Chinese public security ministry, China has not only focused on promoting internal security but also enhanced international cooperation to improve global security.
In the last five years, China increased police cooperation with other countries and regions including sending officers to Argentina, South Africa, Angola and Russia to coordinate with local police crackdowns on crime gangs.
France and China have both fallen victim to terrorist attacks and now both countries have already exchanged analyses of terrorist activity and behavioral patterns. The new challenge is dealing with Jihadist “backflow” from battle zones – like Syria and Iraq – and this would be a key area of future cooperation, Sophie Hatt, a member of the French delegation and head of the French interior ministry’s department of international cooperation, told the Global Times on Tuesday in the sidelines of the Interpol meeting.
‘Red notice’
In recent years, China started using Interpol “red notices” to cooperate with other countries’ law-enforcement agencies in tracking down and arresting Chinese suspects who fled overseas. Contract fraud suspect Xu Xuewei returned from the US on Monday to surrender. He was No.91 on China’s top 100 fugitives listed in an Interpol red notice and the 46th to have returned so far.
New York-based Human Rights Watch accused China of abusing the red notices by converting them into a political tool for hunting “dissidents,” according to the Voice of America on Monday.
“The Interpol red notice has not been abused and these fugitives are ordinary criminals,” Hatt said. “We are trying to work very closely with China on red notice suspects and I know that two fugitives will be sent back to China and we will try our best to continue this close cooperation with China.”
The Interpol red notice is for ordinary crimes and can help member states pursue criminals like terrorists and drug dealers, said Nestor Roncaglia, head of Argentina’s federal police and a member of the Interpol Executive Committee. The red notice process is transparent to member states, he said, and won’t work if used for political purposes.