Ex-Chinese official in most-wanted corruption list applies for US asylum
Date June 11, 2015
Ben Blanchard
Yang Xiuzhu in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, in 2001. Photo: Reuters/File
Beijing: A former senior Chinese official, who went into hiding after being sought by anti-corruption investigators, has applied for asylum in the United States after being detained there, state media said on Thursday.
Yang Xiuzhu, a former deputy mayor of Wenzhou in the booming eastern province of Zhejiang, was taken into custody in the United States last month pending her removal to China.
Chinese authorities have been door knocking citizens on the country's international most-wanted list. Photo: AFP
China's official Xinhua news agency said that Yang, at the top of a Chinese list of 100 suspected corrupt people believed to be abroad and subject to an Interpol "red notice", made the asylum application in a New York court.
Xinhua said its reporter saw Yang dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, with her hair cut short and a "puffy" face.
Reuters was not able to contact Yang's lawyer in the United States.
The case comes as China pushes for talks with the United States on an extradition treaty, which would be a big boost for China's anti-corruption campaign.
Yang first fled to Singapore in 2003 before changing her name and flying to New York.
She was eventually detained in Amsterdam in 2005, where China was not able to gain custody of her, despite protracted negotiations with the Netherlands.
In addition to the United States, China lacks an extradition treaty with the Netherlands.
It is not clear how Yang ended up in the United States.
President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping campaign dubbed Operation Fox Hunt, part of Operation Skynet- against graft since assuming power in 2013, but has been hampered to an extent by difficulty in getting corrupt officials and assets back from overseas.
The list is dominated by suspects the Chinese government believes have fled to western countries that do not have a ratified extradition treaty with China and have thus far demonstrated a cautious response, including the United States (40), Canada (26), New Zealand (11) and Australia.
Rights groups say Chinese authorities use torture and that the death penalty is common in corruption cases.
Australian police have been keen to cooperate with their Chinese counterparts, whose support they need to combat the flourishing drug trade between the two countries.
Australian political leaders, however, have baulked at ratifying an extradition treaty signed eight years ago despite pressure from Beijing, due to concerns about the integrity of Chinese judicial processes and its administering of the death penalty.
Fairfax Media revealed in April that Chinese police failed to notify Australian officials when travelling to Melbourne in December to pursue a tour bus driver accused of bribery, with the undercover operation prompting a furious response from Canberra.
Reuters
