Ying Yong, Chief Grand Prosecutor and Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China, leads a Chinese delegation to attend the 23rd Meeting of the Prosecutors General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States via video link in Beijing on May 14.
The 23rd Meeting of the Prosecutors General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States is held on May 14, Beijing time, focusing on experience sharing among offices of prosecutor general of SCO member states in criminal justice, return of illegally transferred assets, and the resolution of international disputes.
The 23rd Meeting of the Prosecutors General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States was held via video link on May 14, Beijing time.
The meeting was hosted by the Office of the Attorney-General of Pakistan, focusing on experience sharing among offices of prosecutor general of SCO member states in criminal justice, return of illegally transferred assets, and the resolution of international disputes.
Ying Yong, Chief Grand Prosecutor and Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China, led a Chinese delegation to attend the meeting in Beijing and delivered a keynote speech centered on the meeting theme.
Ying pointed out that transnational crimes pose a daunting challenge to global governance, with difficulties arising not only in cracking down on such crimes themselves, but also in identifying and recovering assets transferred across borders during transnational criminal activities. Driven by emerging technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, the modes of transnational criminal asset transfers have continued to evolve.
He said that virtual currencies and virtual assets can flow across borders rapidly, with greater concealment, deception, and complexity, making it harder to combat transnational crimes and recover illicit assets. This seriously undermines the security and development interests of all countries.
Ying emphasized that China attaches great importance to the recovery of assets involved in transnational crimes. Committed to fulfilling its international obligations, China has continuously improved its domestic legal norms and judicial procedures, and established working mechanisms for international fugitive repatriation, asset recovery, and cross-border corruption control.
As China's legal supervision organ and judicial body responsible for ensuring the unified and correct implementation of national laws, Chinese procuratorial organs play an important role in preventing the cross-border transfer of criminal assets and advancing related asset recovery efforts, Ying noted.
Chinese procuratorial organs punish all types of transnational crimes in accordance with the law, fully perform their duties including reviewing and approving arrests, reviewing and initiating public prosecutions and conducting litigation supervision, he said.
In coordination with relevant departments, Chinese procuratorial organs have issued judicial interpretations and improved regulations for law enforcement and judicial case handling. During judicial proceedings, they have carried out asset recovery and loss compensation simultaneously, and leveraged digital technologies to enhance their capabilities in recovering transnational criminal assets, aiming to minimize victims' financial losses, according to Ying.
He added that Chinese procuratorial organs have also actively promoted international judicial cooperation and clarified procedures and requirements for collaborating with foreign judicial authorities in asset recovery, building a synergy in combating transnational crimes and recovering criminal assets.
"Preventing and combating the transnational transfer of criminal assets is a shared responsibility of the international community, and only closer cooperation can deliver win-win outcomes," said Ying.
He noted that Chinese procuratorial organs are ready to work with their counterparts from other SCO member states to implement the Tianjin Declaration adopted at the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, uphold the Shanghai Spirit, deepen exchanges and cooperation, jointly combat transnational crimes in accordance with the law, and strengthen criminal asset recovery, so as to better safeguard the national interests and the well-being of people in all countries.
Specifically, Ying proposed three key points. These include improving working mechanisms by establishing regular communication and coordination channels and strengthening the sharing of leads and intelligence to jointly prevent cross-border crimes and criminal asset transfers; deepening judicial collaboration by promptly and efficiently responding to judicial assistance requests submitted by all SCO member states within the framework of international law; and offering mutual support in the investigation, seizure, confiscation, and recovery of criminal assets to boost the effectiveness of cross-border asset recovery.
Other efforts also highlighted strengthening professional exchanges, including high-level mutual visits and seminars among prosecutors, to learn from each other's judicial experience and jointly enhance professional competence.
Following in-depth discussions, participating parties reached important consensus on strengthening procuratorial cooperation, intensifying joint efforts against cross-border organized crimes, improving the efficiency of criminal asset recovery, enhancing exchanges among procuratorial personnel and deepening judicial collaboration.
The meeting concluded with the adoption of the Minutes of the 23rd Meeting of the Prosecutors General of the SCO Member States. It was decided that the 24th Meeting of the Prosecutors General of the SCO Member States will be held in October 2026 in Russia.
