UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres (Photo: VCG)

Today, December 9, marks the 15th anniversary of International Anti-corruption Day. On December 9, 2003, the United Nations Convention against Corruption was officially adopted. The International Anti-corruption Day was established to raise people's awareness of corruption issues across the globe. Since 2005, the convention has been serving as a legal basis for fighting corruption.

As one of the earliest signatory members to the convention, China has always been focused on the efforts of fighting corruption. There are many "first-time" achievements China has made since its plan on fugitive repatriation and asset recovery was initiated in 2014.

1. Voicing anti-corruption opinions at international platforms

In December 2014, the Beijing Declaration on Fighting Corruption, which aims to solve tough problems on overseas recovery of ill-gotten gains, was adopted on the APEC Summit. It was one of the early promotions by China to reinforce substantial counter-measures on fighting corruption globally. It also marks China making its own voice heard in this effort at an international platform for the first time. The declaration later became the starting point for China to engage in the spade work for worldwide anti-corruption moves.

Two years later, the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016 produced a more detailed strategy on anti-corruption and fugitive repatriation which includes "zero tolerance", "zero loopholes" and "zero obstacles." In May 2017, President Xi Jinping stated at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that the Chinese government would keep honest and clean along the road of development.

Most recently, China reiterated its resolution on fighting corruption at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in September, where China and African countries jointly published the Beijing Declaration on Building a Closer Community of Shared Destiny between China and Africa.

China's effort in anti-corruption has been increasingly recognized by international organizations, which in turn, has boosted bilateral cooperation in this field.

2. Fugitives return to surrender

In 2014, Wang Guoqiang, former Municipal Party Committee Secretary of Fengchen, Liaoning Province, returned to China out of his own will to turn himself in after living as a fugitive for 10 years in the United States. That set a precedent for more fugitives to follow.

Coordinated by the department on fugitive repatriation and asset recovery under China's central anti-corruption authority, Yao Jinqi, a former deputy head of Xinchang County in Zhejiang Province who fled abroad in 2005, was extradited to China from Bulgaria,marking the first time that China has extradited a former official suspected of duty crimes from the European Union.

Thanks to the improved legal system of overseas recovery and joint efforts by Chinese and American Interpol, the number of fugitives returning to their home country is on the upswing.

3. "Sky Net" operation

So far, it's been three years since China launched the "Sky Net" operation, which targets on corruption fugitives and illegal assets recovery overseas. The operation has resulted in the arrest of a batch of corrupt officials, clean up a number of illegal licenses and uproot of illegal banks. Today, "Sky Net" has been upgraded to become a more specialized and precise operation.

Official data shows 4,833 suspects from 120 countries have returned to China and more than 10 billion yuan (approximately 1.5 billion US dollars) worth of illegal assets have been recovered.

4. Joint-announcement made by top administrations for overseas fugitives

In August, an announcement on expediting the fugitives' surrender was made for the first time by the country's five top-level administrations, including China's Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court, Public Security Bureau, Foreign Ministry, and the State Committee of Supervisory.

The move has generated a chain effect for overseas fugitives to turn themselves in after posting the deadline to them. This demonstrated China's resolution to fight corruption.