A man wanted on murder charges in the US for some 10 years was arrested in China recently, and hours ago, he was deported to the US by FBI agents. This is an example of the cooperation between Chinese and US law enforcement agencies made possible by increasingly closer ties.

Suspected of the murder of two young men in Toronto, Canada in 1994, Vietnamese Nguyen Hao Duc is a key member of an international criminal organization. He was finally in Chinese custody. Nguyen entered China illegally from the US in 1997. Until his arrest, he had been hiding in south China's Guangdong Province. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security took prompt action upon receiving an FBI request for deportation in May this year, and two weeks later, he was arrested.

Yu Chengtao, director of Interpol Division of Ministry of Public Security, said, "The successful repatriation of criminals to both sides will help us to enhance law enforcement, this will also step by step put our bilateral cooperation towards a more unified proceedings, such as criminal extradition."

A brief ceremony was held to mark the official handover of the suspect. Legal Attache to the US Embassy and Chief FBI representative in Beijing Anthony Lau, and Deputy Director of the Ministry of Public Security's Criminal Investigation Division Fu Zhenghua exchanged signatures. Lau said he was impressed by the efficiency of the Public Security services in carrying out such a quick arrest. He noted that it was the result of effective cooperation between the FBI's recently established Beijing Bureau and the Chinese PSB.

Chinese police transferred custody of Nguyen to two FBI Agents and a New York Police Department Detective who had come from New York to escort Nguyen back to the US. The criminal's repatriation from China to the US is a result of the very close cooperation between the two sides, which was initiated in the early 1990s.

The deportation of murder suspect Nguyen Hao Duc to the US is being used as a showcase for Sino-US cooperation in law enforcement. Even though the two countries are yet to sign an extradition treaty, China has performed a very public gesture of good will by helping the FBI with their inquiries, which will not go unnoticed by the US.

(CCTV July 21, 2003)