China’s vice-minister for public security was elected the head of the International Police Criminal Organisation on Thursday, Xinhua reported. Meng Hongwei, the first Chinese official to be elected Interpol’s chief, took over from France’s Mireille Ballestrazzi at the closing ceremony of the organisation’s 85th general assembly in Indonesia’s Bali.
Meng, who will serve a four-year term, said that more effective coordination, better support for capacity-building efforts of police forces and a more efficient Interpol would be the hallmarks of his term.
His term will likely boost China’s efforts to crack down on domestic corruption, according to PTI. Beijing is expected to press for the extradition of officials charged with graft who have fled to other countries, as well as further their international investigations. More than a million Chinese officials have been punished in the crackdown, which was started by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2012.
Interpol, founded in 1914 and headquartered in France’s Lyon, is the second-largest international organisation after the United Nations, and has 190 members.
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