China has released the names of 100 fugitives, all believed to have fled abroad, all of whom are subject to worldwide Interpol arrest warrants - China's most wanted.
The 77 men and 23 women on Interpol's red notice list are primarily former government functionaries whose cases involve very substantial amounts of money.
"Though some notices were issued years ago, China is now telling the world that the priorities of the manhunt have changed and advising that no asylum should be granted," said Huang Weiting, an anti-graft expert with Qiushi, a Communist Party of China(CPC) magazine.
Huang Feng, director of the international criminal law research institute at Beijing Normal University, sees the declaration as a sign of genuine resolution to bring the fugitives back to face justice at home.
"China will never give up the pursuit, no matter how long these fugitives have been at large," Huang Feng said. One of the fugitives, Liang Jinwen, has been on the run for almost two decades. He fled overseas in 1996.
A striking feature of the list identified by Huang Feng, is that it so targeted. Nearly half of the fugitives used to be heads of public bodies. More than 60 of them are suspected of bribe taking or embezzlement.
"Even if we cannot catch them right now, we can at least alert other countries," he said. "Maybe by releasing the list to the world, their assets could be frozen."
"By doing this, China can turn fugitive officials into rats in the street. Perhaps we can overawe corrupt officials at home by cutting off their escape routes," Qiushi's Huang Weiting said.
The latest phase of the campaign to repatriate corruption suspects, codenamed Sky Net, was launched in March. It brings together the CPC, central bank and diplomatic services as a concerted force, all fighting on the same front.
CASTING WIDE THE GLOBAL NET
China is currently enjoying increased willingness from other countries to help. Over the few past years, China has worked hard to break down barriers to extradition and judicial cooperation.
During the 2014 Beijing APEC meeting, members agreed to work together to eliminate corruption. Extradition, judicial assistance and more flexible legal measures to recover the proceeds of crime were key areas identified in the Beijing Declaration.
Law enforcement cooperation with the United States, Canada and Australia, three preferred destinations for runaway corrupt Chinese officials, is progressing.
In June 2013, China and Canada reached agreement on sharing and returning recovered assets, China's first special agreement on the issue.
In October 2014, China and the United States agreed to do more to investigate, trace, freeze, retrieve and return stolen assets.
Also in October 2014, Australia said it would help China pursue fugitive suspects and stolen assets.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated earlier this month that it planned to simplify the repatriation process for Chinese fugitives.
PERSUASION AND PURSUIT
While Chinese graft busters find their hands more free to secure the return of fugitives, more needs to be done.
"Many of the fugitives are officials who spent a lot of time preparing to abscond. Typically, they transferred huge amounts abroad and secured visas well in advance," Huang Feng said, adding that it is not uncommon for these officials to politicize their issues. "All this makes it very difficult to bring the fugitives and their money home," he added.
The precise number of fugitive officials and the amounts they have stolen are hard to establish, but, without doubt, the figures are substantial.
Yang Xiuzhu, former vice mayor of Wenzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province, is a typical example. When investigators started looking into her activities in 2003, she and her family fled to the United States via Singapore, and then to the Netherlands.
Investigators found evidence that Yang had accepted 253 million yuan (41 million U.S. dollars) in bribes. Yang is subject to an Interpol red notice and negotiations have begun but had yet to bear fruit.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the CPC new leadership has adopted a zero-tolerance stance on corruption, with tough measures against corruption at home and maximum efforts to hunt down fugitives and their assets abroad. President Xi Jinping announced that China would place "a net in the sky and on the ground" leaving corrupt officials nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
While international cooperation helps, persuasion could be the more useful tool, Huang said. The red notice list will make some fugitives feel unsafe abroad.
"Only when backed up by tight pursuit can persuasion be effective," he said.
