China raises 'fox hunt' co-operation

NZ Prime Minister John Key and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed Chinese fugitives. Picture / AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed his Government's "fox hunt" for economic fugitives with Prime Minister John Key this week as part of talks about "legal co-operation".

China is looking to other nations for aid in tracking down corrupt officials who had absconded from the Asian superpower after launching what "Operation Fox Hunt" in July.

State news agency Xinhua said this month the programme had nabbed 288 suspects.

The Chinese Government has estimated that 16,000 to 18,000 corrupt officials and employees of state-owned enterprises have fled with pilfered assets of more than 800 billion yuan ($166 billion) since the mid-1990s.

The "Fox Hunt" is part of Xi's major crackdown on corruption and a spokeswoman confirmed it came up during talks with Key this week.

"The matter was discussed in the bilateral meeting as part of a wider discussion about legal co-operation," the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said.

Justice Minister Amy Adams on Thursday said New Zealand had been helping China in the prosecution of corruption matters since our bilateral mutual assistance treaty came into effect in 2006.

"We'll continue to assist the Chinese Government where necessary in accordance with the treaty and our laws," Adams said.

Western unease about China's use of the death penalty in corruption cases and the fairness of its justice system has been cited as a barrier in it receiving full international co-operation as it chases down economic fugitives.

Ahead of this month's Apec summit, China initiated a proposal for an anti-corruption network - which the United States backed.

"We are setting up what is called an anti-corruption and transparency network," Apec's Secretariat executive director Alan Bollard said at the time.

"This group will try and bring together the actual operational people who will share information on particular cases, share information about how to get convictions and prosecutions and, if necessary, assets back as well," said Bollard, a former Governor of the New Zealand Reserve Bank.