China, US jointly crack cross-border criminal case

Russian President Vladimir Putin left Beijing on Wednesday night, concluding his state visit to China.

BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday.Li said that amid an increasingly turbulent international landscape, the China-Russia relationship has remained stable and predictable.China stands ready to work with Russia to follow the strategic guidance of the two heads of state and elevate bilateral cooperation to new heights, he said.The premier said China is ready to join hands with the Russian side to expand trade, implement the upgraded bilateral investment pact, and deepen cooperation in fields such as energy, agriculture, connectivity, and green and low-carbon development.China is also willing to work alongside the Russian side to strengthen the alignment between Belt and Road cooperation and the Eurasian Economic Union, while ensuring the safe, stable and high-quality development of the China-Europe Railway Express, Li noted.The premier called on the two sides to deepen exchanges and cooperation in areas such as youth, culture, tourism and sports. China is ready to strengthen coordination with Russia on multilateral platforms, he added.Putin said Russia is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with China, give full play to the prime ministers' regular meeting mechanism of the two countries, and advance cooperation in fields such as trade, energy, agriculture, transport and logistics, industry, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, and sci-tech innovation.Russia will take the Russia-China Years of Education initiative as an opportunity to expand people-to-people exchanges, said Putin.

HONG KONG, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A joint operation conducted by multiple countries and regions against cross-border scams and money laundering has seen 3,018 suspects arrested and 161 million U.S. dollars in fraudulent funds intercepted, said the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) on Wednesday.During the two-month operation, more than 3,200 law enforcement officers from China's Hong Kong and Macao, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand had dissolved cross-border networks that orchestrated over 138,000 scams using baits like online shopping, job hunting and investment projects.The scams cost victims a total of 752 million U.S. dollars, according to the HKPF.The HKPF alone arrested 870 suspects, aged between 13 and 83, who were involved in 742 cases, and intercepted 539 million Hong Kong dollars (about 69 million U.S. dollars) worth of stolen funds.The operation also led to the freezing of over 100,000 bank accounts to prevent the flow of dirty money. The HKPF calls for further collaboration and information sharing between law enforcement agencies to combat the rising trend of money laundering through digital asset trading platforms.