China's top police chief and FBI director vow closer law enforcement cooperation
BEIJING – China's top police chief and the head of the US FBI agreed on Friday (July 24) to deepen co-operation on law enforcement between the two countries, Beijing said after the officials met in the Chinese capital.
Their meeting followed two recent repatriations of fugitives between China and the United States, which do not share an extradition treaty.
Both sides should "engage in more constructive dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and deepen practical co-operation" against a range of criminal activities, China's Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong said during the talks with FBI Director Kash Patel, an official Chinese summary showed.
Patel said in a statement on X he welcomed the direct engagements with Chinese public security officials, which he said has produced results in shutting off fentanyl precursor pipelines and expanding joint efforts on scam centres, violent crimes against children and a fugitive task force.
Back in Beijing to continue the extraordinary work under the Trump Administration- shutting off fentanyl precursor pipelines, expanding our joint operations on scam centers, violent crimes against children and the already successful fugitive task force.
These historic results… pic.twitter.com/LCsqHTUGVU— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) July 24, 2026
On Thursday, China's Public Security Ministry said it had handed over to US law enforcement authorities a US fugitive wanted for serious violent crimes, including the suspected murder of a spouse and the sexual assault of a young girl.
Chinese and US law enforcement agencies have recently carried out "a series of practical co-operation in areas such as counter-narcotics, repatriation of illegal immigrants, fugitive recovery, combating telecom and cyber fraud, and anti-money laundering", the ministry said.
It added that such co-operation was in line with a consensus reached between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Days earlier, the US repatriated to Beijing a fugitive accused of kidnapping and killing Chinese citizens overseas, Chinese state media said. The repatriation was hailed by Beijing as "the latest achievement" in implementing the presidents' consensus.
The FBI's Patel visited Beijing in November 2025 to discuss fentanyl and law enforcement issues, following a summit in October of that year between Trump and Xi, when the two leaders agreed on co-operation to fight fentanyl trafficking, Reuters reported.
The two presidents are set to meet again in Washington in September, Trump has said.
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