Wang Qishan, China's anti-corruption chief, is travelling to the United States on a mission to extradite Chinese government officials who have escaped abroad.

Sources said the trip will be in September and preparations are underway.

It will be Wang's first overseas visit in his capacity as chief of the Communist party's graft watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

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He has no official government title, which raises an awkward situation for U.S. Protocol officials, as they do not know who are Wang's counterparts who will be tasked to welcome him when he arrives in the US.

Wang's mission to track down corrupt Chinese public officials is dubbed 'Operation Fox Hunt."

He is off to the United States hoping that the US government could do more to help bring Chinese fugitives to justice.

China is having difficulty getting back fugitives who have fled to the United States due to lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries.

Wang is the brain behind the unprecedented government campaign that has come to define the presidency of Xi Jinping.

He has been dubbed Xi's "hatchet man" as he is perceived as China's second most powerful leader.

Wang is actually ranked 6th in the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, the party's highest organization.

 As he pushes on with his mission, he has become an enemy to some former members of the Politburo Standing Committee and also the party's Central Military Commission (CMC).

Before Wang enforced his campaign on a code of ethics and discipline for government officials, the members of the Standing Committee and the CMC enjoyed immunity from investigation and prosecution.

Many political leaders in the provincial level have also been removed as an effect of the campaign.

The anti-corruption drive is also now being put in place in state-owned enterprises and military units in China.

TagsAnti-corruption