Enacting a law on combating cross-border corruption is a crucial step in the country’s anti-graft efforts, mainland deputies to the national legislature said on Thursday.

They were speaking after the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee revealed in its work report at the “Two Sessions” meetings that Beijing would formulate a law to fight cross-border corruption this year.

The work report, submitted by the top legislature for deliberation, provided no details of the legislation.

Xu Ganlu, a former public security vice-minister who sits on the NPC foreign affairs committee, told RTHK that such a piece of legislation was necessary to “build a clean government” through legal means.

“This is a very important measure taken by the [Communist Party] and the country that attaches great importance to anti-corruption efforts and tackles the issue of corruption from an institutional perspective," he said.

“There have been ongoing efforts in tackling cross-border crimes, including corruption. If there is such a law, I believe there will be a higher level of co-operation.”

Zhou Guangquan, vice-chairman of the NPC constitution and law committee, said the law was expected to cover offences such as bribery and misappropriation of public funds, among other things.



Edited by Thomas McAlinden