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Rising China, geopolitical tensions take stage at APEC
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Nov 10, 2014


China eyes corruption extradition treaty with Australia: report
Sydney (AFP) Nov 10, 2014 - Australia is considering an extradition treaty with China to assist Beijing in repatriating corrupt officials, a report said Monday, as Asia-Pacific ministers backed attempts to deepen anti-graft efforts.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the Australian Financial Review that the treaty would be part of a declaration against corruption to be signed at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Beijing.

"China has requested one and it's under consideration, with a number of other countries," Bishop said in Beijing.

"It's a Chinese operation in pursuit of Chinese economic fugitives abroad," she said.

Since taking office, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made the graft fight a central theme of his administration as public anger swells over widespread corruption.

In July, China launched its so-called "Fox Hunt" -- a campaign to repatriate corrupt officials or their family members who have moved abroad, taking ill-gotten gains with them.

Australia is considered a haven for corrupt Chinese officials, with their money thought to find its way into legitimate assets such as property and bank accounts.

The two-day APEC forum beginning Monday in Beijing comes ahead of a meeting of the world's biggest economies at the G20 talks in Australia this weekend, at which activists have also urged leaders to address corruption.

Transparency International and partners, including Amnesty International and Oxfam, issued an open letter calling on the G20 to stop the flow of stolen money and end financial secrecy.

"As long as there are places in the global financial system where illicit financial flows can find a safe harbour and there are people to help hide these funds there will be millions more around the world who suffer," it said.

The letter, also signed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, claimed some $1 trillion was siphoned from developing countries each year via opaque corporate ownership structures which allow them evade tax or hide funds.

"G20 governments must collect and publish the identity of the real, living people who ultimately own and control companies and other legal entities to make it easier to track the origin of corrupt or illicit funds," it said.

"They should publish information about revenue, profits, numbers of staff, tax liabilities and taxes paid on a country-by-country basis.

"This needs to be public for citizens to see the impact of companies in their communities and to make it easier to scrutinise where money is earned and where it may be going missing," it added.

World leaders including Barack Obama arrived in Beijing Monday for an Asia-Pacific summit hosted by China's Xi Jinping and including Russia's Vladimir Putin, against a backdrop of growing big-power rivalries.

Obama arrives wounded by the Democrats' defeat in the mid-term US elections and with US-Russian relations in the deep freeze, while Moscow warms to an increasingly assertive China.

The gathering is the biggest event yet hosted by the Chinese president, who took office last year and who spotlighted his country's expanding world profile Sunday by declaring a bright future ahead for the vibrant Pacific Rim -- with a confident China at its heart.

The annual two-day summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries is a rare chance for such a wide range of top leaders to be in the same room, and the typical pledges of amity and trade convergence are often balanced by tense sideline exchanges on festering geopolitical problems.

Beijing and Tokyo's historically frosty relations are at their lowest point in decades over competing claims to Japanese-controlled islets in the East China Sea that have raised the spectre of armed clashes.

But the world's second- and third-largest economies announced a four-point accord Friday to improve ties, fuelling speculation that Xi and his counterpart Shinzo Abe could meet in Beijing in the first top-level encounter in nearly three years.

Obama flew in Monday morning, at a time when Russia is under Western economic sanctions over its seizure of the Crimea and role in a separatist war in eastern Ukraine.

No Obama-Putin meeting is known to be scheduled, but Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has vowed to confront the Russian strongman over Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was brought down over eastern Ukraine in July, with 38 Australians among the 298 dead.

The West has accused pro-Russian rebels of blasting it out of the sky with a missile and Moscow of impeding investigations. Russia denies the accusations.

- Big-power rivalry -

APEC brings into focus a broader big-power rivalry involving Washington, Beijing and Moscow.

Russia and China both regularly express impatience with a perceived US domination of world affairs and often move in tandem on the UN Security Council, vetoing or abstaining from US-led initiatives.

Putin and Xi met Sunday in Beijing, with the Chinese leader warmly calling for the once bitter Cold War rivals to continue to "harvest" the fruits of their friendship.

"No matter the changes on the global arena, we should stick to the chosen path to expand and strengthen our comprehensive mutually fruitful cooperation," Xi said.

Putin said their cooperation was "very important for keeping the world within the framework of international law".

China and the United States already have jousted in Beijing over differing visions of how to achieve Asia-Pacific trade integration, adding to persistent discord over commerce, human rights, cyber-espionage, and territorial disputes.

The White House has said it expects "candid and in-depth conversations" between Obama and Xi, who are due to have several meetings.

As well as the row with Japan -- a US security ally Washington is bound by treaty to defend if attacked -- Beijing's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea has also rankled rival claimants to parts of the strategic waters.

Another likely discussion topic between Xi and Obama is North Korea, following the surprise weekend release of two Americans who were imprisoned by the secretive state.

Beijing is Pyongyang's closest ally, and the prisoner release could fuel speculation the sabre-rattling North may be willing to resume international, China-chaired talks on its nuclear programme.

It should be all smiles, however, when the APEC leaders gather Monday for a "family photo", when they typically wear the host's national dress.

The event culminates Tuesday with a formal leaders' summit.

APEC kicks off a week of high-level summitry that will see Obama and other top leaders travel next to Myanmar to attend the East Asia Summit, followed by G20 talks in Brisbane, Australia.

China is hosting APEC for the first time since 2001, when it was still re-emerging as a world economic power.

But in a speech Sunday, Xi underlined how much has changed by offering his vision of an "Asia-Pacific dream", in which China's continued rise offers "infinite promise" to all.


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