Beijing: Chinese authorities would use "other options", such as persuading fugitives to return by pressuring family members, if an extradition treaty with Australia is not ratified, analysts said.
The director of Peking University's anti-corruption study centre, Zhuang Deshui, said the extradition treaty was only one way for China to return fugitives and recover stolen funds as part of its anti-corruption drive.
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PM's embarrassing China backflip
Malcolm Turnbull has scrapped plans to ratify the extradition treaty with China after opposition from all sides of politics on human rights grounds. Courtesy ABC RN, Sky News.
"If the treaty can't be signed in the near future, there are other options, like return by persuasion, illegal immigration and other judicial cooperation ... When this gate is not open, we can try the window, and if windows are not open, we can try digging holes," he said.
Professor Zhuang said cooperation with Australian authorities in investigating the visa status or tax payments of Chinese fugitives were other avenues.
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China's corruption crackdown has become a hallmark of President Xi Jinping's control of the Communist Party.
In 2016, 47,650 corrupt officials were investigated, including 21 ministers, according to state media. It was announced this week that party officials will be required to study the confessions of corrupted officials as part of their training.
Since 2014, China claims 951 fugitives have returned to China under Operation Fox Hunt, of which eight were extradited and 19 were listed with Interpol. The head of Interpol is Chinese security official Meng Hongwei.
Operation Skynet has seen the return of 1032 fugitives from 70 countries, including 39 of its top 100 most wanted.
Persuasion - whereby Chinese investigators pressure a fugitive's family living in China, or Chinese police travel to another country to pressure them to return - are believed to be the most common method used so far in Fox Hunt and Skynet.
It has been controversially used in at least four cases where suspects have been persuaded to leave Australia.
The United States, Canada and New Zealand were identified as the top three destinations of China's "top 100" most wanted facing corruption charges.
None of these countries have signed an extradition treaty with China, although Canada is in discussions about a potential treaty. France signed a treaty last year.
"Therefore, Australia is a very important breakthrough and a very important cooperation partner," he said.
The deadlock over the treaty showed the political obstacles that could arise in the bilateral relationship, he said.
"There are two political problems. One is domestic politics as the opposition party tries to raise a contradictory view. Another one is discrimination against China's political system, including China's human rights and social system," he said.
He said corrupt Chinese officials pursuing lives of luxury in Australia weren't good for the Australian community either. "It's up to Australia, whether it abandons political bias and regards anti-corruption measures as an international public service," he said.
Human rights lawyers have raised concern at the use of prolonged interrogation techniques against Communist Party officials to extract confessions.
The New Zealand government cooperated to return New Zealand citizen Yan Yongming - one of China's top 100 most wanted - to China in November, after New Zealand courts seized $NZ43 million ($39.4 million) in assets related to his alleged crimes 15 years earlier in China.
China's foreign ministry said this week that an extradition treaty would provide "institutional support" to law enforcement cooperation between the two countries.
State media reported yesterday the anti-corruption fight would continue in the lead-up to November's National Party Congress, held every five years, at which a shakeup of the party's top ranks is expected.