To considerable fanfare in the Chinese state media, "Operation Fox Hunt", launched in July, has already seen 128 economic fugitives repatriated, mostly from a clutch of African and South-East Asian countries which have extradition agreements with – and increasing economic reliance on – China.

But China's focus is squarely trained on where most of the money has gone – the United States, Canada and Australia – where a lack of an extradition agreement along with strong human rights protections can make for ideal safe havens for the corrupt and persecuted alike. (Even without an extradition treaty, the Attorney-General can decide to hand over suspects under the UN Convention for Corruption.)

To what extent, then, should the Abbott government cooperate? It is no secret that Western governments have traditionally been reluctant to give up suspected criminals because of concerns that torture is used to extract confessions, and that Chinese courts, which are controlled by the government, have a 99 per cent conviction rate. China also administers the death penalty.

This is where China's Ministry of Public Security, in instigating the pioneering joint operation with the Australian Federal Police, has side-stepped the diplomatic minefield by going after the money first.

Via a mutual assistance treaty, the AFP is able to seize and repatriate funds the Chinese have identified on face value as being illegally taken out of the country. It expects to do so for the first time within weeks, after agreeing a "priority list" of suspects with the Chinese, including some which have been red-flagged by Interpol.

This prevents, at least immediately, a repeat of the case of Lai Changxing, once China's most-wanted fugitive, who attempted to claim refugee status in Canada after fleeing there with his family in 1999, saying allegations of him running a multi-billion dollar embezzlement scheme was politically motivated, and that he faced torture or execution if sent home. He was deported in 2011, and jailed for life.

While the AFP is confident that the cases presented to them are genuine, they concede they are not privy to any information Chinese police hold on the political background or party links of their suspects. The concern is that as requests for seizure of assets grow, grey areas may increasingly emerge.

From an Australian perspective, projecting a hard line is vital in deterring prospective Chinese economic fugitives. And maintaining the integrity of investment flows is especially important given the overwhelming popularity of Australia's significant investor visa schemes among Chinese applicants. Importantly, the perception among many Australians is that the influx of capital linked to these schemes is driving up real estate prices.

An extradition treaty being returned to the table is not out of the question.

One actually does exist between the two countries, signed in 2007 under the Howard government, but it was never ratified after Kevin Rudd emerged victorious in the federal election later that year.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Department said implementation of the treaty "is subject to ongoing consideration".