Learn Mandarin: Chinese School - Extradition treaty with Spain approved

CHINA / National

Extradition treaty with Spain approved
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-04-29 13:53

China's top legislature on Saturday ratified an extradition treaty with
Spain, the first such treaty China has signed with a developed Western
country, in which China unprecedentedly agrees that it will not execute
repatriated criminals.

Legal experts said that the landmark ratification means that China has
committed itself to respecting the principle in law according to which no
repatriated criminal suspects would face death penalty. The principle is
observed by major Western countries.

Chinese lawmakers convene their 21st session in the Great Hall of the
People April 27, 2006. The lawmakers on Saturday approved an extradition
treaty with Spain, the first such treaty China has signed with a
developed Western country. [Xinhua]

The treaty also marks "China's major shift in tactics in bringing
fugitive corrupt officials back to justice under its own legal
jurisdiction," said Dr. Xu Hong, counselor with the Department of Treaty
and Law under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an interview with
Xinhua.

"The treaty will help China weave a global extradition net to bring back
corrupt officials who have fled abroad, largely seeking asylum in
developed countries in Europe and North America," said Xu, who was also
head of the Chinese delegation in China-Spain extradition talks.

Wu Dawei, China's vice foreign minister, said in a report to the
legislature (the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress)
earlier this week that "Spain is an influential country in the EU
(European Union), and the treaty will effectively deliver the warning to
corrupt officials who are at large on foreign lands."

Signing the extradition treaty with Spain will pave the way for more such
judicial cooperation with other Western countries, he said.

The top legislature on Saturday also ratified an extradition treaty with
Brazil, two treaties on legal assistance in criminal matters with Spain
and France respectively, without the reference to how to handle suspects
who might face death penalty.

Fueled by surging economic figures, crimes such as bribery, embezzlement
have increased among government officials in China, and a large number of
crooked officials fled China after reaping huge profits as police have
come to be on alert.

According to a 2004 report released by the research institute attached to
the Ministry of Commerce, about 4,000 crooked Chinese officials had fled
overseas since China launched economic reforms in 1978, taking away funds
equal to 50 billion U.S. dollars.

Statistics from the police authorities said there were still 500 economic
crime suspects on the run in foreign countries in 2004. The money
involved in these cases topped 70 billion yuan.

The police figures also show that from 1993 to January 2005, more than
230 Chinese criminal suspects had been repatriated from over 30 countries
and regions, with assistance of the Interpol. But observers said they
were just a friction of the suspects seeking refuge overseas.

Since 1993, China has signed extradition treaties with over 20 countries,
mostly developing ones including Thailand, Laos, Belarus and South
Africa. "Negotiations with developed countries were moving slowly," said
Xu.

Observers said China's use of death penalty, especially on severe
economic crimes, makes it hard for the country to cooperate on
extradition with countries in the EU and North America who uphold the
policy that no person who might be subject to the death penalty would be
extradited.

To these countries, extradition treaties can never be signed without
China accepting the policy, Xu said.

"The constitution of Spain does not allow death penalty," said Gregorio
Laso, counselor of the Information and Press in the Spanish Embassy in
China. In an interview with Xinhua, Laso said the fact of two countries
coming across all the differences in legal system to co-operate
demonstrates trust and respect between the two sides.

"The treaty has a very positive impact on bilateral relations, pushing
the judicial co-operation to a new stage," Laso said, adding that the
Ministry of Interior of Spain has set up an office in Beijing this month
to take care of the judicial co-operation, including extradition issues.

According to Xu, Spain proposed to China for extradition co-operation in
September 2004. The two sides had all the treaty articles agreed in
October 2005, and signed the document in Madrid on November 14, 2005,
during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Spain. The legislature's
ratification is required to finally enact the treaty, according to
Chinese laws.

Though praised by Spain, the treaty has stirred up debate among Chinese
legal experts and lawmakers, with some fearing that it might weaken
China's anti-graft efforts by exempting runaway crime suspects from death
penalty.

"Now, the issue is not that whether we should put them to death, but is
that whether we can bring them back," said Xu, adding that once crime
suspects are living at large on foreign lands, it is of no use to simply
vow death penalty for them.

In fact, such an exemption of execution has already in practice relating
to an official repatriated from the United States, even without an
extradition treaty. Earlier this month, a court in the southern province
of Guangdong sentenced Yu Zhendong, a former bank official repatriated
from the United States, to 12 years in prison for embezzlement.

Yu, former head of a Bank of China branch in the city of Kaiping being
held responsible for a 82.5 million U.S. dollar loss of the bank, was
returned to China in 2004 after China agreed on no death penalty for him.

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Saturday, December 22, 2007

Chinese School - Extradition treaty with Spain approved

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