BEIJING, Sept. 27 -- Leading officials of International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) applauded China's increasingly important role in international police cooperation in interviews ahead of the 86th Interpol General Assembly here on Sept. 26-29.

"China has been a very important member of Interpol and contributed in all different ways to the success of the organization," said INTERPOL Executive Director Police Services Tim Morris.

He noted that China has made great contributions to the identification of global criminals and prevention of crimes by providing large amounts of information to the Interpol database through China's Public Security Ministry.

The Interpol's 190 member countries can get access to its 17 databases for information, such as information concerning criminals and lost travel documents, said Dominic Suc, assistant director of Interpol's Information Systems and Technology.P The Interpol and China have a long-term cooperation on information exchanges, said Suc. "We have witnessed our relationship emphasized in recent years. The number of the recording in the databases has been largely increased."

Moreover, China has sent numerous professional police officers to Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, east-central Franceand its division in Singapore, making remarkable contributions in such special areas as combating cyber crime, one of the two major challenges in international security other than terrorism, Morris said.

Besides, Francoise Dorcier, coordinator of Interpol's Illicit Goods and Global Health Program, said that "We see a lot of commitment from Chinese authorities in the fight against counterfeiting," and are looking forward to further cooperation especially in the Middle East and Africa.

China and the Interpol indeed have "excellent cooperation" in international fugitive investigations, said Ioannis Kokkinis, Criminal Intelligence Officer at the Fugitive Investigative Support Unit, citing a recent collaborated operation located in Asia and the South Pacific as an example of "the great support that China is providing."

As the Interpol now has much better links with China, it has arrested a great number of targets not only from China, but from many countries outside of Asia, said Kokkinis, adding that "under this framework we can of course have more success in the future."

Ursula Martinez, head of INTERPOL Command and Coordination Centre, agreed, saying that "China is really very important especially in operations located in Asian countries," expressing his gratitude for "China's fast reaction and crucial supports."

Morris also noted that China has over 1.5 million professional police and they form an important part of the international police force. "We are looking forward to even more cooperation with China," he said.

"An agreement has been signed between Interpol and the Chinese government for the Belt and Road Initiative, and hopefully Interpol is in a position to support this initiative by bringing more data and access to Interpol systems to all the countries involved," he added.

Established in 1923, Interpol is the world's largest intergovernmental organization facilitating international police cooperation with a membership of 190 countries.

Its work focuses primarily on public safety and battling terrorism, providing information and technical support in such cases as organized crimes, drug-related crimes, weapons smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, cybercrime, and corruption.