Leaders of China and Russia issued a joint statement in Moscow on a strategic cooperation on anti-corruption efforts, according to the Chinese discipline inspection authority Tuesday. [Special coverage]
The joint statement was signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 8, before Russia's military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) will meet with the Russian anti-corruption authority and will set up an anti-corruption mechanism to further promote China's anti-corruption campaign, while the cooperation will help to hunt down fugitive Chinese officials and strengthen the investigation, according to the statement.
The setting up of an exchange and cooperation mechanism among the CPC Central Committee, CCDI and the Russian President's Office reflects high mutual trust between the two countries, the statement wrote.
This is the first time China has included anti-corruption cooperation in a joint statement with other countries since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, according to the CCDI.
"The fact that both leaders stressed anti-corruption cooperation in the document shows the two leaders' commitment to tackling corruption-related issues and their mutual trust," a spokesman of the CCDI's international cooperation bureau said, according to the CCDI website.
He added anti-corruption authorities of both countries have been in close touch since the Chinese Ministry of Supervision signed a cooperation memorandum with the Russian Inspectorate in 1999.
The spokesman pointed out that the joint statement shows that the two countries have brought anti-corruption cooperation to the national level and see it as an important part of diplomacy work of two countries, and is crucial to maintaining a high standard of and stable development of China-Russia strategic cooperation partnership.
China launched a "Sky Net" campaign earlier this year to arrest corrupt officials who have fled abroad, following the Fox Hunt 2014, during which 680 fugitives suspected of economic crimes were repatriated to China from July to December 2014.
