SYDNEY Australia canceled a vote on Tuesday to finally ratify an extradition treaty with China, 10 years after it was signed, with the government set for an embarrassing defeat on the vote.
The planned parliamentary vote was to occur two days after China Premier Li Keqiang left Australia where trade deals underpinned fast improving Sino-Australia relations.
Australia`s inability to ratify the extradition treaty is a blow to China`s overseas hunt for corrupt officials and business executives who have fled abroad with their assets, dubbed Operation Fox Hunt.
Political opposition to the treaty in Australia stems from concerns over China`s humanitarian record, with human rights groups regularly accusing Beijing of obtaining confessions through torture.
But a spokesman for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the vote had been canceled, after opposition politicians who control the upper house Senate made it clear they would not support the treaty.
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