China to enhance cooperation with SCO members' prosecuting agencies

China's procuratorates will enhance cooperation with prosecuting agencies in other countries that are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in fields such as combating crimes and promoting people's well-being, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Ying Yong, procurator-general of China's Supreme People's Procuratorate, made the remarks during the 21st Prosecutors General Conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

He also emphasized the need to intensify joint efforts in fighting financial crimes, optimizing the business environment and protecting the environment.

Ying said prosecuting agencies in member states had used the SCO framework to achieve fruitful results in countering terrorism, separatism, extremism and transnational crime, as well as in strengthening corporate protection, environmental protection, and safeguarding the rights and interests of minors.

"Only by strengthening cooperation can we conquer challenges and share opportunities," he said.

Ying said prosecutors from China and other SCO member states would work together to support modernization, establish a cooperative mechanism involving border-region prosecuting agencies and promote the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, aligning it with the development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives of various countries.

He highlighted the crucial role played by prosecuting agencies in upholding the rule of law and economic and social development in a country, regardless the judicial system it adopted.

In China, procuratorates played a key role in legal supervision and ensuring the unified and correct implementation of national laws, actively contributing to building China into a modern socialist country in all respects, he said.

Chinese procuratorates had always attached equal importance to punishing crimes and protecting human rights, and they also closely supervised law enforcement and judicial work to ensure fairness and justice, he added.

They prioritized equal protection for all market entities and actively promoted comprehensive protection of intellectual property rights, while also using public interest litigation to safeguard the public's interests and serve the country's high-quality development, he said.

Ying called for SCO members states' prosecuting agencies to establish a regular mechanism for exchanges between prosecutors. That would enable them to jointly address key and difficult issues encountered in their work and further modernization, he said.