China has given list of 100 fugitives to US, official says

China has provided the US with a list of alleged fugitives from justice amid a campaign to track down corrupt officials and others who have fled abroad, an American official said yesterday.

The US State Department's representative to recent law enforcement talks with China, William Brownfield, said the sides had agreed to a finite number of wanted individuals and would develop a strategy on how to deal with each.

An American official speaking on condition of anonymity said Beijing had provided more than 100 names, but offered little information about their identities or possible whereabouts in the US.

China launched Operation Fox Hunt in July, and 428 suspects had been apprehended so far, Xinhua reported the Ministry of Security as saying this week. But the effort has been hampered by a lack of extradition treaties with the US, Canada and some European Union nations, which cite concerns over the death penalty and whether suspects will get a fair trial.

Without the treaties, China had been forced to consider alternatives, such as using immigration laws in overseas countries to trigger expulsions, Xu Hong, director general of the ministry's Department of Treaty and Law, said last month. Beijing had also looked into whether civil legal action can be taken to sue the fugitives, or pressing courts abroad to start criminal proceedings, he said.

"We have actually talked to the United States, saying that in view of the increasing exchanges and cooperation between China and the US, should we consider signing an extradition treaty," Xu said. "However, it looks as though the US is not ready to do that yet."