Cooperating with Beijing, Canada ships fugitives back to China to stand trial

Canada, a popular destination for corrupt Chinese to flee, has been returning dozens of Chinese nationals annually, according to the National Post.

The country has returned 24 Chinese nationals to China this year, and the previous Conservative government sent back more than 330, the newspaper reported on Sunday, citing data from Canada Border Services Agency data.

In 2015, the numbers reached a 10-year high of 43, and the lowest number of returned fugitives over the last 10 years was 18, in 2010, the Post said. The statistics do not say what crimes people were accused of, according to the Post.

More than a quarter of China's 100 most wanted graft suspects are believed to live in Canada, but the two countries do not have a formal extradition treaty.

"The return of inadmissible persons is a normal part of the bilateral relationship with any country. Nothing has changed with this policy since the change in government in 2015," Nicholas Dorion of the Canada Border Services Agency told the National Post. A working group of Chinese and Canadian officials has been meeting regularly on common law-enforcement issues, including the return of Chinese fugitives to China, since 1999.

China has vowed to pursue a search beyond its borders for corrupt officials and business executives, and their assets.

In Addition to Canada, the United States, Australia and Singapore also are among the most popular countries for fugitives due to the lack of bilateral extradition treaties and differences in laws, according to China's Ministry of Public Security.

Chinese and US judicial authorities have been speeding up negotiations on returning five most-wanted corrupt Chinese officials, who are still on the run in the United States, to face trial at home, a senior official from the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection told China Daily this week. The official, who declined to reveal his name, said that "achievements have been made" on some major cases through judicial and diplomatic channels.

In September, during his visit to Canada, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed a treaty on the return of stolen assets with Canada. Under the agreement, the two countries will share the assets if their origin cannot be confirmed.

Documents obtained with an access to information request show that in 2014 then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Chinese leadership that he was eager to collaborate on the return of fugitives, the Post reported.