United States authorities on Thursday repatriated a Chinese fugitive accused in 2004 of conspiring in a scheme to defraud China's central bank of $485 million. The deportation of Kuang Wanchang shows that both countries are steadily progressing towards establishing a formal prisoner extradition treaty.

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This issue is expected to be high on the agenda when President Xi Jinping meets President Barack Obama later today in Washington. Chinese authorities have bemoaned the lack of such an agreement as many fugitives are believed to be hiding in the U.S. Chinese state media noted that Kuang's extradition was made possible due to close cooperation between China and the U.S.

Kuang's extradition follows the return of one of Beijing's most wanted fugitives - Yang Jinjun - from the U.S. last week. It appears that China has been able to convince America and allay concerns that the suspects would be subjected to torture or meted the death penalty on their return.

In 2008, Kuang, her husband, Xu Guojan - a former manager at the Bank of China -, as well as his colleague, Xu Chaofan, and his wife, Yu Yingyi, were sentenced in the U.S. for their role in the scheme to defraud China's central bank of $485 million. The couples were found guilty of money laundering, transporting stolen property, racketeering and obtaining U.S. visas illegally. They subsequently handed jail time: while Xu Guojan and Xu Chaofan for 22 and 25 years in prison respectively, their wives were sentenced to only eight years in jail. The two women were accused of assisting their husbands to launder the stolen money through Las Vegas casinos.

A fifth accomplice Yu Zhendong, who also worked as a manager with the Bank of China, was arrested in the U.S. with the others, but opted to be returned to China. In 2006, Yu was sentenced to 12 years in jail by a court in Guangdong province.

It is unclear if Kuang's extradition means that the U.S. is ready to also return her husband and the other suspects to China.

TagsKuang Wanchang, Kuang Wan Chang, Bank of China, Xu Chaofan, Xu Guojan, Yang Jinjun, China U.S. Extradition Treaty, Yu Yingyi, Yu Zhendong, China Operation Sky Net