'I was so depressed,' ex-fugitive concedes

Hunting down fugitives is expected to be a hot topic among political advisers and lawmakers during the approaching annual sessions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the National People's Congress, which will open on March 3 and 5, respectively.

Many delegates expect that Chinese law enforcement officers will make a breakthrough on nabbing fugitives－especially those corrupt officials who are still at large in Western countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand－and repatriate them to stand trial.

Extradition treaties

"I hope that China will speed up negotiations with authorities in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on signing bilateral extradition treaties and that they at least might agree on a time schedule," said Du Mei, a CPPCC member and deputy director of the Television Artists Association in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Xiong Jijun, an NPC deputy and vice-president of North University of China in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, said, "I am so worried that much more in public funds will be illegally sent abroad by corrupt officials, so judicial authorities should take strong measures to prevent such illegal transfers."

Since April last year, the ministry has been working closely with the People's Bank of China to monitor the suspicious flow of funds to suspects' foreign accounts. It is also enhancing supervision of offshore companies and cracking down on underground banks to prevent suspected corrupt officials from sending assets abroad illegally.