Of the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies, China’s Ministry of State Security ranks near the top. The MSS has created the Orwellian surveillance and “re-education” system to control the ethnic Uighur people in western China.
In Beijing, the hand of the MSS can be discerned in puzzling headlines about the disappearance of Meng Hongwei, the chief of Interpol. Now the Wall Street Journal reports
In China’s long bid to gain greater influence on the global stage, placing a senior cop at the top of Interpol was meant to be a diplomatic achievement. China wanted to shoulder a bigger role in the world of international law enforcement. It also wanted Interpol’s help reeling in fugitives facing charges of alleged corruption back home, where President Xi Jinping had launched a crackdown dubbed Operation Fox Hunt.
Interpol’s most important job is maintaining a database of “red notices” that signal to countries around the world that a fugitive has entered their country. Within minutes of receiving the name of a person wanted in one country, national police in another can close the dragnet.
Meng disappeared last fall, arrested by another powerful security office, the National Supervisory Commission. He was charged with taking bribes, which his family denies.
The real problem, according to the Wall Street Journal:
As Interpol president, Mr. Meng wasn’t delivering the red notices China wanted, according to people familiar with his activities. Tensions with higher-ups back home had risen to the point that he made arrangements to live abroad after his tenure was over—an escape plan seen as dangerous because of his deep knowledge of party secrets.
Source: China Installed Its Top Cop to Steer Interpol. Then He Disappeared. – WSJ
