China, US reach consensus on combating corruption

BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Monday that China has made headway with the United States on bilateral talks for tracking down fugitive corruption suspects.

Hong told a regular press briefing that the two sides have reached important consensus on strengthening cooperation in the areas of combating corruption, bringing fugitives to law and seizing their illegal proceeds at the 12th meeting of the China-US Joint Liaison Group (JLG) on Law Enforcement Cooperation, held in Beijing last week.

Hong said the Chinese government is determined to stamp out corruption and will bring suspects to law no matter how long they have been on the run and how far they have gone.

The United States is one of the destinations of choice for fugitives.

William Brownfield, the US assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said Friday that the two sides had identified a "finite number of individuals and agreed to develop a strategy to address each of those".

Brownfield co-chaired the law enforcement meeting in Beijing.

The lack of an extradition treaty remains the main obstacle for cooperation between China and the United States, making extradition cooperation difficult.