Strong Institutions a Vital Weapon in Arsenal to Battle Corruption

The surrender of China's most-wanted economic fugitive, Yang Xiuzhu, marks a victory for anti-graft fighters who have been doggedly pursuing her for years.

Yang, 70, spent 13 years on the run across the world and was the top name on a list of 100 most-wanted corruption suspects that Beijing had asked Interpol to help apprehend.

A former deputy mayor of Wenzhou, in the booming eastern province of Zhejiang, Yang was accused of embezzling over $40 million from city construction projects. Her return to face trial in China shortly after a high-level Communist Party meeting — the Sixth Plenum of the party's 18th National Congress — showed that the anti-graft net cast by Xi Jinping was closing in on suspects both at home and abroad, and there were no safe havens to hide in anymore.