Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BEIJING3742
2008-09-26 07:00:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:  

FOURTH SESSION OF THE ANTICORRUPTION WORKING GROUP

Tags:  PGOV PREL KCOR KCRM KFRD KJUS CH XB 
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VZCZCXRO2083
OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #3742/01 2700700
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 260700Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0153
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 003742 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM BANDREWS; INL/AAE ABUHLER, DMELLEBY, INL/C
DLUNA
DOJ FOR CRIMINAL DIVISION JRUSCH
OGE FOR JLEY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KCRM KFRD KJUS CH XB
SUBJECT: FOURTH SESSION OF THE ANTICORRUPTION WORKING GROUP
(ACWG) OF THE U.S.-CHINA JOINT LIAISON GROUP (JLG) FOR LAW
ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson
for reasons 1.4 (B/D).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 003742

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM BANDREWS; INL/AAE ABUHLER, DMELLEBY, INL/C
DLUNA
DOJ FOR CRIMINAL DIVISION JRUSCH
OGE FOR JLEY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KCRM KFRD KJUS CH XB
SUBJECT: FOURTH SESSION OF THE ANTICORRUPTION WORKING GROUP
(ACWG) OF THE U.S.-CHINA JOINT LIAISON GROUP (JLG) FOR LAW
ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson
for reasons 1.4 (B/D).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) The Anticorruption Working Group (ACWG) of the
U.S.-China Joint Liaison Group (JLG) for Law Enforcement
Cooperation held its fourth session in Beijing and Nanjing
September 16-18. Interagency participants from the United
States and China discussed the Mutual Legal Assistance
Agreement (MLAA) cooperation, implementation of the UN
Convention against Corruption (UNCAC),and combating fraud in
disaster zones such as New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
and Sichuan Province after the Wenchuan earthquake. The
high-level participation from multiple sectors on the Chinese
side reflects significant Chinese support for the ACWG, as
well as for the JLG as a whole. End Summary.

A "solid foundation"
--------------


2. (SBU) The respective delegations were led by David Luna,
State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs (INL) Anti-Crime Programs Division
Director, and Wang Yongjun, Ministry of Supervision (MOS)
Foreign Affairs Department Director General, while the
sessions were attended by members of the U.S. Department of
Justice, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, the Department
of Homeland Security and Embassy Beijing, and on the Chinese
side by the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security and the
Ministry of Justice.


3. (SBU) During the opening session, both Director Luna and
DG Wang praised the work of the ACWG to date, expressed
satisfaction at the "solid foundation" created over the past
three years of cooperation and noted that the ACWG operated
under principles of "mutual trust and respect." Both sides
promised to continue their work and to uphold and advance the

political commitment expressed by both President Bush and
President Hu Jintao to combat corruption through increased
U.S.-China law enforcement cooperation, formal exchanges and
joint hosting of regional events.

A "model" for cooperation
--------------


4. (SBU) Participants noted that the most successful example
of cooperation was the recently concluded "Kaiping case" in
which the defendants, former Bank of China's Kaiping branch
managers and their wives, were convicted August 29 by a U.S.
federal jury in Las Vegas on charges of racketeering, money
laundering, international transportation of stolen property
as well as passport and visa fraud. The convictions were due
in large part to evidence provided by the PRC. The case
required experts from four legal systems (those of China, the
United Sates, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)
and Canada) to cooperate on evidence collection, and to
establish pilot court proceedings involving video
depositions. Thanks to this unprecedented cooperation, the
case, which involved an elaborate scheme to defraud the Bank
of China of at least $485 million, was handled swiftly and
effectively.

Many firsts
--------------


5. (SBU) Wang noted that the Kaiping case represented the
first time China has pursued a case by implementing the
U.S.-China Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLAA). He
added that China was especially pleased with the result
because the case marked the first time stolen assets were
returned to China. Embassy Beijing LegAtt pointed out that
it was also the first time Chinese witnesses were sent to the
United States in order to appear in a U.S. court, something
U.S. officials deemed especially beneficial for the U.S.
judicial proceedings. All agreed that this case was indeed a
"model" for future cooperation.

A priority for China
--------------


6. (SBU) Ministry of Supervision Vice Minister Yao Zengke, in
his first-ever address to an American delegation, said that

BEIJING 00003742 002 OF 003


the JLG is a "sparkling jewel" of Sino-U.S. legal
cooperation, of which the ACWG is an integral part. He
pointed out that despite differences in culture and
tradition, the United States and China are able to cooperate
effectively on law enforcement issues, and that this is the
only way to combat corruption. In an aside with Luna during
a dinner reception hosted by the Chinese delegation, Vice
Minister Yao added that anticorruption is a core area of
cooperation in the overall bilateral strategic dialogue.

Sharing lessons on combating disaster-zone fraud
-------------- ---


7. (SBU) The ACWG held a substantive discussion on fighting
fraud in disaster zones. After presentations by Chinese
officials from the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of
Civil Affairs, and the National Audit Office on measures to
combat fraud in the wake of the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake,
DOJ Criminal Division Fraud Section Deputy Chief for Strategy
and Policy Jonathan Rusch shared lessons learned and best
practices from the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force's
efforts to reduce fraud in what has amounted to the largest
domestic financial disbursement after a natural disaster in
U.S. history. (NOTE: The Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task
Force, established by former Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales in September 2005, is an inter-agency body chaired
by DOJ designed to deter, investigate and prosecute
disaster-related federal crimes such as charity fraud and
insurance fraud.) Both sides agreed to continue to share
information on this issue and agreed that this was an
important contribution to the legacy of the ACWG.

UN Convention on Corruption
--------------


8. (SBU) In an update on China's efforts to implement the UN
Convention against Corruption (UNCAC),MOS Department of
Treaty and Law Deputy Director General Chen Yujiang said that
China established the National Bureau for Corruption
Prevention (NBCP) in May 2007 in order to meet its
obligations under Article 6 of UNCAC. Reporting directly to
the State Council, the NBCP is responsible for anticorruption
program and policy formulation, preventive anticorruption
measures and international cooperation. Chen added that
China has created an inter-departmental coordinating agency
involving 24 departments to research and analyze the gap
between China's anticorruption laws and measures mandated by
UNCAC.


9. (SBU) In response, Luna said that the United States
welcomed China's input on the UNCAC Dozen proposal to
implement a review mechanism for UNCAC, and that his
colleagues are looking forward to working with China on this
proposal at the Working Group meeting September 22-24 in
Vienna.

APEC Anticorruption Initiative
--------------


10. (SBU) In Nanjing, Luna and U.S. Office of Government
Ethics Deputy Director Jane Ley met with Jiangsu Province
Executive Vice Governor Zhao Kezhi, Communist Party of China
(CPC) Municipal Deputy Secretary Chen Xiaoze, Director
General of Jiangsu Province Supervision Department Xie Xiulan
and Nanjing Municipal leaders to discuss the spring 2009
U.S.-China Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Symposium
on the APEC Leaders' Anticorruption Initiative and the APEC
Principles of Conduct for Public Officials, which APEC
leaders adopted in Sydney in September 2007. The spring 2009
conference, to be held in Nanjing, will focus on issues
related to conflict of interests, financial disclosures,
codes of conduct, ethics education, and enforcement.


11. (SBU) The U.S. delegation was briefed on Jiangsu
Province's efforts to combat corruption and promote
transparency standards, including efforts on administrative
reform and various innovative e-governance initiatives with
the Construction Board Commission and latest technologies on
surveillance systems for detecting fraud by Jiangsu Province
Supervision Department. The United States and China agreed
to showcase these innovative technologies by Jiangsu Province
during the APEC Nanjing conference. The Nanjing commitment
is a follow-up to the joint U.S.-China APEC Shanghai workshop
in 2006 on prosecuting kleptocrats, denying safe haven, and
recovering assets.

BEIJING 00003742 003 OF 003



Comment
--------------


12. (C) The high-level participation from multiple sectors on
the Chinese side, as well as the effective law enforcement
cooperation on the Kaiping case, reflects significant Chinese
support for the ACWG. Moreover, as the Chinese delegation
reiterated several times that they "recognize the importance"
of working on cases that are especially sensitive to the
United States and of "achieving beneficial results," there
also seems to be a willingness to continue this cooperation
in the future. As such, it is clear that China is pleased
with the ACWG's progress over the past three years, considers
it a priority area for engagement and continues to attach
importance to the JLG.


13. (U) Participants:

UNITED STATES
David Luna, Director, Department of State Bureau for
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Anticrime
Program Division
Jonathan Rusch, Deputy Chief for Strategy and Policy, U.S.
Department of Justice Criminal Division Fraud Section
Jane Ley, Deputy Director, U.S. Office of Government Ethics
Amy Chang Lee, Resident Legal Advisor, U.S. Embassy
Steve Hendershot, Legal Attache, U.S. Embassy
James "Steve" Thomas, Attache, Department of Homeland
Security, U.S. Embassy
Brooke Spelman, Political Officer, U.S. Embassy
Chen Jia, Legal Specialist, U.S. Embassy
Vicky Segal, Interpreter

CHINA
Yao Zengke, Vice Minister, Ministry of Supervision
Wang Tie, Director General, General Office, Ministry of
Supervision; Deputy Director, Leading Group on Relief
Supervision
Wang Yongjun, Director General, Foreign Affairs Office,
Ministry of Supervision
Kong Xiangren, Deputy Director General, Foreign Affairs
Office, Ministry of Supervision
Cai Wei, Division Director, International Cooperation
Division, Foreign Affairs Office, Ministry of Supervision
Chen Yujiang, Deputy Director General, Department of Treaty
and Law, Ministry of Supervision
Ma Jianjun, Deputy Director General, Second Supervision
Division, Ministry of Supervision
Cui Yang, Central Administration on Commercial Bribery
Li Aimin, Division Director, Anticorruption Bureau, Supreme
People's Procuratorate
Gao Shan, Deputy Director, National Corruption Prevention
Bureau
Chen Dong, Anticorruption and Bribery Bureau, Supreme
People's Procuratorate
Zhu Yong, Second Secretary, Treaty and Law Department,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Guo Ping, Deputy Division Director, Economic Criminal
Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Public Security
Zhang Xiaoming, Division Director, Judicial Assistance and
Foreign Affairs Department, Ministry of Justice
Wang Zhongxin, Director General, Department of Social
Security, National Audit Office
Li Baojun, Division Director, Department of Disaster Relief,
Ministry of Civil Affairs
Zhao Kezhi, Executive Vice Governor, Jiangsu Province
Chen Xiaoze, Deputy Secretary, Communist Party of China (CPC)
Nanjing Municipal Committee
Xie Xiulan, Director General, Jiangsu Province Supervision
Department


14. (U) INL Anticrime Programs Division Director David Luna
cleared this message.
RANDT