US is Top Destination For China's Corruption Fugitives

More than 150 Chinese fugitives are at large in the United States, according to Chinese state media.

China's Ministry of Public Security wants to establish a high-level meeting with US judicial authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security, according to reports in the China Daily.

China President Xi Jinping's aggressive campaign against graft has seen the state go after corrupt officials amid concerns that graft scandals could threaten the future of the party.

China's has struggled to rein in abuses by government workers with families and connections overseas that have shifted assets abroad illegally.

Experts have estimated that more than a million officials could have shifted their assets abroad in the past five years.

The United States "has become the top destination for Chinese fugitives fleeing the law," Liao Jinrong, director general at the International Cooperation Bureau said, as cited by the China Daily.

"We face practical difficulties in getting fugitives who fled to the United States back to face trial due to the lack of an extradition treaty and the complex and lengthy procedures," he added.

However, the number of fugitive officials returned to China in the past decade remains at two, the newspaper reported.