Most Chinese forced to return home were living abroad illegally

More than 60 percent of Chinese who were repatriated from overseas last year were returned for being illegal residents, immigration inspection officials in Beijing said.

The Beijing Office of China Immigration Inspection dealt with about 6,000 repatriated people last year, among whom 88.3 percent were Chinese repatriated by other countries, and the rest were foreigners sent back to their home countries by China, according to Ni Binghong, head of the repatriation inspection center at the authority.

The number has declined over the past few years, Ni said, from an average of around 8,000 in the past.