The Chinese government has provided a "priority" list to the United States of Chinese officials suspected of corruption and who are believed to have fled there, a top state-run newspaper said on Wednesday.

Last year, Chinese officials said more than 150 "economic fugitives," many of them described as corrupt government officials, were in the United States.

Xu Jinhui, head of the anti-graft bureau at the state prosecutor, told the official China Daily that "a priority list of alleged Chinese corrupt officials" believed to be at large in the United States has been provided to U.S. authorities.