Beijing Says West Inhibiting China’s Hunt for Fugitives Hiding Overseas

The head of the Chinese foreign ministry's treaty department explained that Western countries refused to sign the extradition treaties due to their "cumbersome" legal procedures and biased judges.

MOSCOW, November 26 (Sputnik) – China's efforts to bring back financial fugitives hiding overseas are inhibited by biased judges in Western countries unwilling to cooperate in their extradition, head of the foreign ministry's treaty department Xu Hong said Wednesday.

"In some countries, judges who sometimes don't understand or even have prejudices against China refuse to cooperate," Xu was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

Xu explained that Western countries refused to sign the extradition treaties due to their "cumbersome" legal procedures and biased judges, as reported by the newspaper. This, in turn, is hampering Beijing's anti-corruption campaign known as Operation Fox Hunt.

"Hunting down fugitives fleeing abroad and recovering illicit assets internationally is an important part of the campaign against corruption," he added, saying that it was about people's trust in China's Communist Party.

In countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, the legal systems do not oblige authorities to unilaterally honor China's extradition requests, instead doing so on a case-by-case basis.

In exchange for faster extradition processing by the West, Xu was quoted as saying that Beijing was willing to deport fugitives wanted by Western countries on a reciprocity basis.

Operation Fox Hunt was initiated by President Xi Jinping and launched in July by the Communist Party to arrest and sentence over 18,000 former Chinese government officials who have escaped from China and are known to be hiding outside the country over the past two decades.

In November, China managed to bring back 126 financial crime suspects hiding overseas. The United States and Canada also returned officials wanted for high-profile cases involving over $500 million. Some other few hundreds have also been arrested during the preceding months.

To boost extradition efforts, Beijing promised more lenient treatment for fugitives who give themselves in by December 1.