Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

According to a report in The New York Times, the Obama administration has delivered a warning to China about its agents "operating secretly in the United States to pressure prominent expatriates to return home immediately" as one part of China's Operation "Fox Hunt."

State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a press conference that it was a criminal offense for "an individual other than a diplomatic or consular officer or attaché to act in the United States as a law enforcement agent of a foreign power."

He did not directly mention China, yet stressed the US and China communicate regularly on "matters of mutual concern including fugitives and anti-corruption" through the US-China Joint Liaison Group on Law Enforcement Cooperation (JLG).

The US Justice Department also remarked on the issue when its spokesman Marc Raimondi said, "If such unreported activity were to be taking place on US soil, we would vigorously enforce our laws."

It seems that the US warning comes as a sudden change of attitude. The "Fox Hunt" was already begun in 2014, and started from July to December, sending more than 70 working groups to 69 countries and regions, and secured the return of 680 economic fugitives.

During that time, the US expressed its willingness to strengthen its cooperation with China on anti-corruption instead of giving warnings or even opposing it.

In November 2014, the US, together with other APEC members, has agreed to establish the APEC Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies (ACT-NET), an anti-corruption network which reaffirms the commitment to denying safe haven to those engaged in corruption.

In April, US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson visited China. The two countries pledged to enhance law enforcement and security cooperation. Johnson also said the US is willing to enhance mutual trust and coordination with China, so as to make new progress in their cooperation on law enforcement and security.

After the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in June, the two countries decided to deepen and strengthen law enforcement cooperation to address issues of mutual concern on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, utilizing the JLG as the main channel and to enhance communication on anti-corruption under multilateral frameworks, such as UN Convention against Corruption, G20, and APEC.

The two sides reaffirmed their G20 commitments on tackling foreign bribery, denial of safe haven, and asset recovery.

The momentum for cooperation in this regard is relatively positive, so why is the news popping up and attracting so much attention?

Part of the reason is the deteriorating environment of China-US relations. In 2015, the US media started to exaggerate a new version of "China threat" and advocated a tougher policy toward China.

Recently, numerous stories, from the claim that China's State-sponsored hackers stole online personnel files from the US to the devaluation of the yuan, have exacerbated the possible tensions and created more confusion between the two sides.

The fundamental reason is that the US hardly understands China's domestic politics. Some US scholars and media have no clue about the direction of China's new round of reform and feel pessimistic about China's prospects, believing the country has embarked on a path totally different from their expectation.

Specifically speaking, on China's anti-corruption campaign, the US harbors deep misunderstandings and does not realize the importance of "Fox Hunt" for China.

The operation actually closes a loophole in China's anti-corruption drive, which in the past mainly targeted domestic corruption and left out those who have fled the country. It sends a clear warning to Chinese officials that it will be much harder to find a safe haven in the future.

The problem is that a consensus on this issue has not been reached and no extradition treaty between the two countries has been signed.

However, progress has been made in anti-corruption cooperation, with some common understanding.

Now it is necessary for both countries not to be trapped by some media's misleading rhetoric.

From a different perspective, the report about "Fox Hunt" shows there is still considerable room for the two countries to cooperate on anti-corruption and law enforcement, which may become another highlight during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the US in September.

The author is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.opinion@globaltimes.com.cn