U.S. Returns Fugitive to China After 13 Years on the Run

U.S. Returns Fugitive to China After 13 Years on the Run

Beijing hails repatriation of ex-official Yang Xiuzhu to face corruption charges

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Yang Xiuzhu, wanted in China on corruption charges, is escorted off a plane in Beijing on Wednesday. PHOTO: YIN GANG/ZUMA PRESS


By JAMES T. AREDDY
Nov. 16, 2016 5:50 a.m. ET11 COMMENTS

SHANGHAI—The U.S. government sent back to China a former official long wanted on corruption charges, in an act that Beijing portrayed as proof its global manhunt for economic criminals is succeeding.

Yang Xiuzhu’s arrival in Beijing on Wednesday, 13 years after she fled eastern China, was carried live on China Central Television. Ms. Yang, now 70 years old, smiled as she stepped unsteadily off an American Airlines plane without handcuffs and was helped by two policewomen into a van marked “VIP” for a ride to the terminal to formalize her arrest.

It was unusually gentle treatment for a returned suspect who had been atop a list of the country’s most-wanted economic fugitives. State media devote considerable coverage to the return of fugitives, and many are shown being manhandled by police.

China portrayed Ms. Yang as having returned voluntarily, a step it has encouraged other fugitives to take. By allowing her to step onto Chinese soil with a semblance of dignity, authorities appeared to be sending a message to others—including foreign governments—that suspects in corruption cases will be treated fairly by China’s criminal justice system.

Ms. Yang was charged with corruption, though no details of the allegations were provided. Her arrest warrant listed by the international police-cooperation agency Interpol shows it as embezzlement, and Chinese authorities have said she generated some $39 million in illegal income from the construction industry when she was a top official in the eastern city of Wenzhou.

Ms. Yang wasn’t available for comment, and it isn’t clear whether she has a lawyer.

The return had been expected for more than a year. Earlier this month, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Ms. Yang was in its custody “while the agency finalizes her removal” over immigration violations.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said Wednesday that she couldn’t comment on the return.

China has made persuading foreign countries to return fugitives a major part of the four-year-old anticorruption push led by PresidentXi Jinping, who has appealed personally to other state leaders, including President Barack Obama. The U.S. and most Western countries don’t have formal extradition treaties with China that would make transfers more routine.

The U.S. and several other Western governments have responded positively to China’s efforts, saying they have no interest in being havens for people who made money illegally.

In several cases, China has pledged not to execute repatriated fugitives accused of economic crimes.

Last week, a Chinese fugitive was returned from New Zealand. France, Italy and Spain have also recently returned fugitives to China. Beijing says it has gotten back 37 of the 100 economic fugitives it named last year in a list that suggested in which countries they were hiding.

In a boost to Beijing’s credibility in such matters, Interpol’s members this month elected a vice minister of China’s Public Security Bureau, Meng Hongwei, as the organization’s president, a primarily ceremonial post. Amnesty International, a critic of China’s justice system, called the vote alarming.

Ms. Yang has been a notable frustration for China since she fled in 2003. She made stops in Hong Kong, Singapore, France, the Netherlands and Italy, sometimes under false identities, according to Xinhua News Agency. In 2014 she entered the U.S. and sought asylum, China says.

But U.S. courts decided more than a year ago that Ms. Yang had entered illegally and had exhausted legal avenues to remain. Ms. Yang’s brother was returned to China by the U.S. in September 2015.

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