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The Chinese public security agency's "Fox Hunt 2022" operation arrested more than 700 people from overseas and recovered 1 billion yuan of stolen goods. The news published today by China News Agency.
The special operation "Fox Hunt 2023" is a part of the "Skynet 2023" operation deployed by the Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group International Fugitive Recovery and Cross-Border Corruption Governance Office.
Launched in 2014 and established the following year, Sky Net started its operations in April 2015 under the guidance of the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection (CCDI) of the CCP, in cooperation with the Supreme Court, the Supreme Prosecutor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, Banca Popolare Chinese and the Ministry of Public Security, in charge of operations Fox Hunt.
Following the establishment of the National Commission Supervisory Authority (NSC) in 2018, Sky Net came under the direct command of the latter, who has since supervised the operations to capture anyone was considered a "fugitive" by the CCP.
The National Supervision Law (NSL), which established the NSC, defines “international repatriation of anti-corruption fugitives” as an international operation leading to the arrest of “suspects” who have fled China.
According to the official legal interpretation of the law provided by the CCDI, while extradition is the ideal and formal channel for returning such persons to China, officials may also consider using repatriation, persuasion, remote prosecution and “irregular methods”, such as kidnapping and entrapment, “when the suspect is lured into the territory of the country trapping, on the high international seas, in international airspace or in a third country with an extradition treaty, and then arrested or extradited.”
According to the latest report by Safeguard Defenders, China legalized the use of kidnapping abroad.
Since its launch in 2014 as part of Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, 10,000 have been successfully repatriated from over 120 countries around the world under the operations of Sky Net (and junior partner Fox Hunt).
In 2022 the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, recalled that the Chinese government continues to use a program called Fox Hunt “to target, threaten, intimidate and ultimately repatriate former Chinese nationals living overseas whom it deems a political or financial threat.”
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has also publicly admitted that China uses threats and intimidation against members of the Chinese community in Canada similar to the tactics used in Operation Fox Hunt. CSIS argues that “these tactics can also be used as a cover to silence dissent, lobby opponents politicians and instilling a general fear of state power, regardless where is a person from."
Since Xi Jinping took office in 2012, his "anti-corruption" campaign has been used to consolidate his leadership and enhance critical silence." This vast illegal business includes both Sky Net and Fox Hunt.
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