China Points to America in Most-Wanted List

Skynet Terminator Speaks Chinese

 

 

China Points to America in Most-Wanted List

Beijing steps up anticorruption efforts, believes some suspects have fled to U.S.  

wsj

By

James T. Areddy

April 22, 2015 11:21 a.m. ET

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Chinese authorities on Wednesday published mug shots of 100 economic fugitives they are seeking globally, a roster that deepens the government’s long-running assertion that a bevy of its most wanted are hiding out in the U.S.
Bringing more fugitives to justice continues to be a high international diplomatic priority of Xi Jinping’s administration as his anticorruption crusade goes global, with particular attention focused on scoring success in the U.S. where politicians have long been distrustful of China’s justice system and therefore reluctant to act on its extradition requests.
Chinese authorities have dispatched specialists to embassies around the world to focus on cases involving absconded government officials and others who the government says have for years too easily won haven abroad. The Wall Street Journal recently profiled an accused official sought by Chinese authorities.

In Wednesday’s statement, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said that its most-wanted list reflects China’s desire to cooperate with international law-enforcement agencies. It restates China’s request for foreign assistance to bring to justice each of the accused individuals, whose names have already been published through the global police-cooperation organization Interpol.
Individual character sketches posted to the commission’s website include a name, photograph and basic outlines of their alleged illicit activity that mirrors information available on the searchable Interpol website that includes hundreds of alleged Chinese criminals.
But unlike the public Interpol roster, China’s new list outlines where the government believes the suspects have fled—led by the U.S. China suspects 37 of the 100 at least transited in the U.S., a claim that follows long-running but vague Chinese assertions the country is among the “top destinations for China’s runaway officials.”
Canada and Australia, other so-called favored destinations, are also repeatedly cited on the list but less frequently than the U.S.
Fu Kui, the chief of the commission’s international cooperation department told China Central Television on Wednesday evening that the list was published “to show our determination” that fugitives will be captured.
Washington, which has its own diplomatic priorities with China over stemming illicit money flows, is sending increasingly strong signals that it is ready to cooperate on fugitives.
In one of the most visible moves to respond to China’s allegations that criminals are in the U.S., the Justice Department last month indicted a former government grain-industry official on corruption charges in Los Angeles. Qiao Jianjun, who remains at large and is unreachable despite the indictment, is among those named on Wednesday’s list and who also appears on Interpol’s website.
This week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Securityissued a statement following meetings with Chinese officials that said the sides aim “to improve information sharing on repatriation and fugitive cases.” Last year, U.S. diplomats accepted a list of suspects China says are in the U.S. and asked Beijing to provide additional information on some of them.
China’s commission, which traditionally prosecutes corruption within the Communist Party, is assuming an increasingly high profile internationally on the fugitive issue and recently unveiled a locate-and-prosecute program it dubbed Sky Net.
The suspects it named Wednesday are primarily accused of economic crimes including embezzlement, fraud and other corruption. In the absence of extradition treaties with Western countries like the U.S. that would allow China to win transfer of suspected criminals, China’s fugitive notices with Interpol mean border police in other countries may question the suspects but not necessarily turn them over.
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Operation Skynet: China's anti-corruption campaign goes international as Beijing reaches out to uncover officials fled abroad

Lacking extradition treaties with Britain or the US, President Xi Jinping is trying to negotiate the return of corrupt officials who have fled. As Jamie Fullerton reports from Beijing, some on the wanted list are returning by choice
independent