On November 23, 2015, the opening ceremony of the 13th Meeting of China-US Joint Liaison Group on Law Enforcement Cooperation (JLG) was held in Washington DC of the US. Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Foreign Ministry Xu Hong, Director-General of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Public Security Liao Jinrong, and Deputy Director-General of the International Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Supervision Cai Wei as well as Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of Department of Justice Bruce Swartz and Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Alan Bersin of the US co-chaired the meeting as joint heads of the group. The Chinese delegation consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Supervision, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Justice, the General Administration of Customs and the Chinese Embassy in the US. The US delegation consisted of officials from the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Embassy in China.
The Charge d'Affaires of Chinese Embassy in the US Wu Xi and Counselor of the Department of State Thomas Shannon of the US attended the opening ceremony of the meeting and delivered a speech respectively. Both sides stressed that the law enforcement cooperation under the guidance of JLG is an important component and one of the cooperation highlights in bilateral relations, and encouraged both law enforcement departments to continue to expand and deepen cooperation.
As a crucial part of the implementation of the outcome yielded from President Xi Jinping's visit to the US this September, the three-day 13th Meeting of the JLG will review and assess the overall situation of China-US law enforcement cooperation and the JLG mechanism operation since the 12th meeting last December, listen to annual reports of groups under the JLG, which include fugitive hunt and repatriation, criminal enforcement of intellectual property, anti-corruption, anti-drug, criminal judicial assistance and combating cyber crimes, deeply discuss issues of law enforcement and judicial cooperation of common concern and formulate plans on major cooperation areas and specific works in 2016.
The JLG was established in 1998 as a major coordination and communication mechanism and platform for China and the US in law enforcement cooperation to discuss major matters regarding law enforcement cooperation. Both countries take turns holding the annual meeting in general. Since its establishment, it has played an important role in implementing vital consensus reached by both heads of state in law enforcement cooperation, as well as coordinating and promoting bilateral cooperation in law enforcement and other areas. China and the US have conducted productive cooperation under this mechanism.