The Turnbull government is moving to ratify an extradition treaty with China as Beijing steps up eff orts to repatriate corrupt officials who have fled overseas.
China practises the death penalty, including for some economic crimes, although the total number of executions remains a state secret.
Concerns have been raised that any extradition agreement in force must inherently place faith in the integrity of China's party-controlled judicial system. Traditional arguments against extradition also include fears over human rights and torture, and China's administration of the death penalty. 
Emily Howie, of the Human Rights Law Centre in Melbourne, said she would be disappointed if the terms of an extradition treaty with China undermined Australia's pledge to lead a campaign to abolish the death penalty in its bid for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Australia signed an extradition agreement with China in 2007 that was never ratified. It is understood that the treaty will now be tabled with Parliament's joint standing committee on treaties as early as next month.
Malcolm Turnbull is due to make his first visit as Prime Minister to Beijing in   April.
The unratified treaty signed between Australia and China provides grounds for refusal for political offences and if there are fears of torture or inhumane punishment.
In cases where the person sought may be sentenced to death, Australia can undertake that the death penalty not be imposed, or if imposed, that it not be carried out. The ratification process, which ordinarily would take months, could be drawn out further as the government gears up for an election this year.
"The Australian government will seek to progress this matter," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in Beijing on Wednesday. "We think that our bilateral law enforcement relationship should be enhanced as all aspects of the bilateral relationship with China are progressing."
China established a new agency, the Department of Overseas Fugitive Affairs, last month as an extension to its "Fox Hunt" and "Sky Net" operations targeting suspected economic criminals and corrupt officials hiding overseas.
Chinese authorities routinely cite Australia, along with the US and Canada, as the most popular havens for its fugitives.
Widely promoted by state-run media, the campaign is designed to deter officials contemplating fleeing the country's sweeping anti-corruption drive, while appeasing a Chinese public fed up with a culture of graft in which officials siphon funds offshore, often through spouses and children living overseas.
Last month, China's Public Security Ministry said it had secured the return of 857 overseas fugitives last year. The number includes those extradited - mainly from such south-east Asian countries as Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia - but also those who were voluntarily "persuaded" to return to China. This included 17 from Australia, according to Chinese authorities.
Chinese officials have couched the extradition treaty as a natural progression on bilateral police co-operation and an international anti-corruption accord agreed at the 2014 APEC Summit in Beijing. Australian law enforcement agencies are also keen for China's help in stemming the flow of illicit drugs - particularly crystal methamphetamine - from southern China.
"China may indeed have good reasons to want criminals to return and face justice for criminal acts, including corruption," said Elaine Pearson, Australia director of Human Rights Watch. "But the question is whether extradited defendants will receive a fair trial with due process and not be at risk of torture. Given the opaqueness of China's criminal justice system, regular flouting of the rule of law and politicisation of the judiciary, [this] remains doubtful at best."
China's efforts to catch its fugitives have also been blotted with troubling instances..
Fairfax Media revealed last year that Chinese police failed to notify Australian officials when they travelled to Melbourne to pursue Dong Feng, a tour bus driver accused of bribery, prompting a furious response from Canberra. Mr Dong suggested the welfare of his elderly parents was used as leverage by mainland police seeking his return.
In another case, a former Chinese boss of a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, Zheng Jiefu, said he had been followed around Melbourne's bayside suburbs in connection with a corruption case involving China's former deputy spy chief. "I'm not worried because I was set up," he told Fairfax Media via telephone on Wednesday, adding that his confidence was bolstered by the fact several of his politically linked rivals had been arrested in mainland China.
Others pursued by Chinese police, including Chinese-born Australian nationals, have told Fairfax Media the charges against them were trumped up and politically motivated.
"China respects laws of other countries and so does with their legal procedures," Liu Jianchao, the director of international co-operation at the Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog, said at a media briefing in   December.
Alluding to those who hide behind lengthy legal appeals to fight extradition, he said: "At the same time, we expect... legal procedures in these countries not to be abused by those criminal suspects."
OPERATION FOX HUNT
The search for Chinese fugitives in Australia
HU Yuxing
Wanted for: financial malpractice; abuse of power
Left China:   July 2002
Interpol notice: Feb 2003
Traced to: Perth
YAO Geng
Wanted for: embezzlement
Birthplace: Yunnan prov.
Left China:   April 1998
Interpol notice:   July 2000
Traced to: Sydney
TANG Dongmei
Wanted for: embezzlement
Birthplace: Fuzhou
Left China:   December 2008
Interpol notice:   May 2009
Traced to: Melbourne
ZHOU Shiqin
Wanted for: embezzlement
Birthplace: Dalian
Left China:   October 2007
Interpol notice:   June 2008
Traced to: Melbourne
GUO Liaowu
Wanted for:
accepting bribes
Left China:   August 2010
Interpol notice:   April 2015
Traced to: Adelaide
ZHANG Dawai
Wanted for: embezzlement
Birthplace: Anhui province
Left China:   September 2013
Interpol notice:   March 2015
JI Dongsheng
JI Dongsheng, 50
Misappropriation of funds
Birthplace: Henan province
Left China:   December 2002
Interpol notice:   May 2008
HU Fengxian
Wanted for: corruption
Birthplace: Sichuan province
Left China:   November 2009
Interpol notice:   July 2010
GUO Jiefang
Wanted for: accepting bribes
Birthplace: Guangdong prov.
Left China:   March 2000
Interpol notice: Dec 2007
LAI Mingmin
Wanted for: embezzlement
Birthplace: Guangdong prov.
Left China:   August 2001
Interpol notice: Jan 2006
Source: Interpol; Chinese Central Commission for Discipline Inspection