More work needed to get fugitives back

Michael Ching Mo Yeung, a real estate developer in Vancouver, Canada, is reported to be Cheng Muyang in reality, whose name figures on the list of 100 most wanted Chinese economic fugitives issued by Interpol last month. The 45-year-old Cheng, the son of former Party chief of Hebei province Cheng Weigao, fled to Canada in 2000 and was put on the Ministry of Public Security's wanted list a year later for alleged corruption.

Speaking at a news conference on April 30, Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said, "staying abroad does not mean a fugitive is beyond the reach of the law". Fugitives should be brought to trial and should get due punishments, but in Cheng's case, multiple obstacles, some of them complex, are preventing his repatriation.

The first is his permanent residence permit in Canada. So unlike another Chinese fugitive businessman Lai Changxing who entered Canada but was repatriated to China in 2011, Cheng's complicated repatriation process can start only after his permanent residence permit is revoked because he has the legal right to stay in that country.