China now has the legal basis to seek extradition of criminals and suspects who flee to France.

France becomes the second country in Europe to have an extradition treaty with China. The first was Spain.

French Justice Minister Pascal Clement and Chinese Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Dai Bingguo signed the bilateral agreement in Paris on Tuesday.

The treaty provides a legal foundation for China-France cooperation in their fight against crime, Chinese diplomatic sources said.

The agreement is of great importance, "particularly for bilateral relations", Clement said in his speech at the signing ceremony. It will "strengthen and deepen our judicial cooperation further".

"The legal security established in the judicial cooperation process will form the basis of the procedure for the two countries' judges when they are called upon to work on extradition cases," Clement said.

The extradition with Spain took effect on March 16, the day it exchanged with China the agreements and documents of approval signed by the heads of the two states, the Chinese Embassy in Spain said.

China and Spain signed the three agreements on extradition two years ago, with Beijing pledging not to execute criminals or suspects repatriated from that country.

This pledge could help persuade more Western countries to join China's efforts to track down corrupt officials who have fled abroad.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) ratified the repatriation treaty with Spain on April 30, 2005.

Analysts said China was also making headway in its negotiations for extradition agreements with Australia and Portugal.

Source: China Daily