Shift of focus

Since late 2012, when China's current leadership took office, an anti-graft campaign has become a top priority nationwide. At international forums, President Xi Jinping has stated repeatedly that China will strengthen judicial cooperation with other countries to combat cross-border corruption and dissuade relevant countries from offering "safe harbors" for suspects.

In 2015, Chinese authorities set up the Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group, led by the CCDI, and launched Operation Skynet to chase economic fugitives overseas.

In April 2015, Interpol issued red notices - international alerts requesting provisional arrest with a view to extradition - for 100 major fugitive officials.

To date, 55 have returned from more than 17 countries and regions, including Li, who was ranked No 2 on the list, and Yang Xiuzhu, ranked No 1, who returned to China in November 2016 after 13 years on the run in the US.

As part of a new focus in the hunt, police will not only repatriate officials, but also pay more attention to recovering assets they sent abroad, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Lei Ming, a senior official at the ministry's Economic Crimes Investigation Bureau, said police will also work closely with the Anti-money Laundering Department of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, to monitor suspicious flows of assets to other countries, while strengthening management of officials' private passports and tightening border controls to prevent them fleeing the country.

Moreover, authorities will enhance law enforcement cooperation with their counterparts in Western countries on important individual cases, and will share intelligence and conduct joint investigations to locate, freeze and recover stolen assets, he said.