Recently, at the 2025 Conference of the Global Public Safety Cooperation Forum, during the sub-forum on the situation and countermeasures for combating transnational crimes, China proposed that relevant countries and regions jointly establish the International Alliance against Telecommunication and Internet Fraud (hereinafter referred to as the "International Anti-Fraud Alliance"). This is another practical action taken by China under the guidance of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind to actively implement the Global Security Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative, providing a platform and opportunity for combating transnational telecommunications and internet fraud, improving the global public safety governance structure, and promoting law enforcement cooperation among countries.

In recent years, the situation of transnational telecommunications and internet fraud has become increasingly severe. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime points out that the perpetrators and victims of cybercrime are spread all over the world. Data shows that in 2024, global property losses caused by cyber fraud reached approximately 1 trillion US dollars, and 78% of respondents had been defrauded at least once in the past 12 months. China has also been severely affected, with victims of telecom fraud covering all age groups from 9 to 93 years old. In 2024, the National Anti-Fraud Center of China intercepted over 300 billion yuan in funds involved in fraud cases.

On the other hand, the global criminal structure is also undergoing significant changes: traditional crimes are accelerating their spread and mutation online, and new types of crimes represented by telecommunications and internet fraud have become a global public hazard and a global governance challenge, showing highly industrialized, organized, and internationalized characteristics. At the same time, such crimes are often intertwined with cross-border crimes such as online gambling and human trafficking, posing a serious threat to the safety and interests of people in all countries.

Compared with the high incidence and prevalence of transnational telecom fraud activities, there is a significant governance deficit in the field of telecommunications and internet fraud at the global level. Currently, the cooperation mechanisms involved in this field mainly include inter-governmental mechanisms, such as Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Network Crime Prevention Network, and task forces established by countries for specific goals. Although there are many of them, they generally remain at the level of "broad cooperation" and lack specialized governance forces for telecom fraud, with weak specialized coordination capabilities and low response efficiency, making it difficult to match the complex situation of telecom fraud crimes.

 

In the face of the severe situation of the governance deficit in international anti-fraud, China has taken the initiative to assume the responsibility of global security governance and provided public security products to the international community with practical measures. In recent years, China has successively carried out law enforcement and security cooperation with Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, and has arrested 68,000 overseas suspects involved in fraud cases. During this forum, China's proposal to establish the "International Anti-Fraud Alliance" received positive responses from the heads and representatives of the police departments of 30 countries and regions, and the "Joint Initiative on Combating and Managing Telecommunications and Internet Fraud" was released. This not only confirms the "urgent desire of the international community to fight fraud together", but also directly reflects the recognition and trust of the international community in China's constructive role in global security governance.

It is worth noting that the United States is also a major victim of transnational telecom fraud: according to US disclosures, Americans lost at least 10 billion US dollars due to fraud activities in Southeast Asia in 2024. Recently, the United States has announced sanctions against Southeast Asian online fraud gangs, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury has also simultaneously imposed financial and diplomatic sanctions on fraud gangs in Myanmar and Cambodia. This indicates that there is a "common interest basis" between China and the United States in the field of anti-fraud.

The establishment and improvement of the "International Anti-Fraud Alliance" is expected to become a "new handle" for deepening law enforcement cooperation between China and the United States. Law enforcement cooperation has always been an important part of the political relationship between China and the United States, but currently, it is mainly concentrated in areas such as drug control, illegal immigrant repatriation, and anti-corruption. Cooperation in combating telecom fraud is mostly limited to individual cases. For instance, by the end of 2024, the Ministry of Public Security of China and the Department of Homeland Security of the United States jointly handled a cross-border telecommunications network fraud case, helping a Zhejiang-based enterprise and its American partner recover over 1.7 million US dollars in defrauded funds. In the future, whether through bilateral mechanisms or relying on the "International Anti-Fraud Alliance" platform, if China and the United States can upgrade their anti-fraud cooperation to systematic coordination, it will not only expand the space for practical cooperation between the two countries but also jointly provide "great power strength" to fill the global anti-fraud governance deficit.

Of course, considering that some in the US are accustomed to hyping up the "China cyber threat theory", the future cooperation between China and the US in promoting the international anti-fraud cause also faces the risk of being "poisoned". In this regard, we need to maintain a clear understanding. We should recognize the possible cooperation barriers brought by "America First", without overestimating the short-term cooperation results; nor should we be overly pessimistic. While holding the bottom line, we should maintain an open and collaborative attitude. In areas such as anti-fraud, drug control, and other security and governance fields, China and the United States have broad potential for cooperation. They should do more good things that are beneficial to both countries and the world, and take on the responsibility of major countries in the face of new global governance challenges.