Chinese media applauds Interpol appointment, dismisses international concern over 'Operation Fox Hunt'

Beijing state-backed media celebrated the appointment of a top Chinese public security official to Interpol’s executive committee despite widespread international concern over China’s potential abuse of the global policing organization. 

Legislators from 20 countries strongly opposed Hu’s appointment due to allegations he is directly involved in Operation Fox Hunt, through which Beijing hunts down dissidents in foreign countries and forces them back to China. A letter from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) claimed Hu’s appointment would provide China with influence over a major international organization and enable these efforts, the South China Morning Post reported. 

"The government of the People’s Republic of China has repeatedly abused the Interpol red notice to persecute dissidents in exile," they said in the letter, which has 50 signatories. "By electing Hu Binchen to the executive committee, the general assembly would be giving a green light to the [Chinese] government to continue their misuse of Interpol and would place the tens of thousands of Hongkonger, Uygur, Tibetan, Taiwanese and Chinese dissidents living abroad at even graver risk."