China Arrests Its Most-Wanted Fugitive After Canada Deports Him (8 co-conspirators already executed)

NY Times ^ | 7/23/11 | IAN JOHNSON and MICHAEL WINES

[LibWhacker]

BEIJING — In a closely watched case that could affect Chinese citizens in other Western countries, state security officials arrested China’s most-wanted fugitive on Saturday after Canadian authorities deported him, ending more than a decade of attempts to escape imprisonment here.

The former fugitive, Lai Changxing, 53, is suspected of leading a corruption ring that caused a major government upheaval in the late 1990s, touching the man widely expected to be chosen next year to lead China, Vice President Xi Jinping.

Mr. Lai is accused of overseeing a smuggling ring from Xiamen, a coastal city opposite Taiwan, that netted as much as $10 billion before he fled China in August 1999. He later flew to Canada from Hong Kong and sought protection as a refugee, saying he faced torture or death should he be returned to China.

[LibWhacker]

Think China will honor its pledge not to execute him?

[volunbeer]

I don’t think he will live long.

[Rashputin]

"Think China will honor its pledge not to execute him?"

Oh, I'm sure they will. A guy like that, though, probably has health problems or a weak heart. I'm also sure he's an accident prone individual.

[AlexW]

“Think China will honor its pledge not to execute him?”
_________________________________________

One can not mess around in China.

Several months ago, several young Philippine girls were
accused of dealing drugs and sentenced to death.
It was big news in the Philippines and there was a big push to get a last minute stay, but I did not hear the outcome.
It was probably not good.

[csense]

But on Thursday, a Canadian federal court ruled against Mr. Lai, calling him a “common criminal” and saying it largely accepted as “strict, clear and unequivocal” China’s pledges that it would not torture or execute him.

I'm not sure how China can seemingly speak for the judge yet give the appearance of a fair trial. If execution is among the possible sentences for the crime, then all they can really promise is that the prosecution won't request it.

[prosecution] We asked the judge not to institute the death penalty, but he did anyway. It's out of our hands now.[/prosecution]

[Razzz42]

...just like the US was going to take Osama bin Laden alive...

[FromTheSidelines]

We should consider the same punishment for crooked politicians here in the US...

[JudgemAll]

Nah, he will not live long and we are being hypocrites. We knew the same way that Saddam’s brother in law revealing Saddam’s secrets would end up assassinated - allegedly in a tribal incident...

[Calusa]

You’ve probably heard the axiom that Democracy is the worst form of government — except for all the others. Well, in New York Times’ columnist Tom Friedman’s world, the only thing worse than Chinese communism is American Democracy.

Specifically, on Thursday’s “Morning Joe,” he reiterated a point he has made before. In a discussion of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington, he said: “There’s only one thing worse, in my view, than one-party autocracy — the Chinese system — and that’s one-party Democracy. Okay? See, one-party autocracy, at least if it has some vision of the future, can actually order the right things . . . collective action from the top down. But when you have one-party Democracy, that is, you have one party trying to do things and the other sticking a spoke in its wheels constantly, you can’t get anything big done. And that to me seems to be our real dilemma today.”

That nasty chiken bone sticking in Friedman’s craw is Equal Justice Under the Law

[Scotsman will be Free]

Good idea. We could export the crooked Pols to China and pay China to execute them for considerably less than it would cost to do it here. A reverse Wal Mart policy as it were.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks LibWhacker.

I'm sure this will turn out okay for the guy, what do you all think?