Dragnet

China Mulls Suing ‘Economic Fugitives’

Who fled to U.S. and elsewhere.

China is considering suing people suspected of committing economic crimes who have fled to the United States and elsewhere with billions of dollars, an unusual step in a widening anti-graft campaign, a senior official said. The move, part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive, underscores the challenges Beijing faces in seeking the return of so-called economic fugitives. Xu Hong, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Treaty and Law, said China tried to persuade the U.S. to sign an extradition treaty, but Washington said it was “not ready.” The Washington-based Global Financial Integrity Group estimates $1.08 trillion left China illegally from 2002 to 2011. China said this month it had captured 288 fugitives suspected of committing economic crimes in its Operation Fox Hunt campaign.