https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/v...zens-hp5300gmm
Rendition row after China seizes six people from Vanuatu
China has exerted its jurisdiction over a small Pacific state, forcibly removing six suspects without recourse to local courts or legal process.
The five men and a woman, four of whom held citizenship in Vanuatu, were marched by police to a chartered jet that left Port Vila bound for Beijing on Friday. The group, of Chinese ethnicity, had not appeared before a local court and no charges were disclosed before the rendition. Extradition had not been formally requested.......
The rendition of the six has renewed concerns about growing Chinese influence in the region. Dan McGarry, editor of the
Vanuatu Daily Post, wrote: “Under a veil of secrecy, China has convinced Vanuatu to enforce Chinese law within its own borders.” It said that the six were held for days without charge on the premises of a Chinese company which has large contracts with the Vanuatu government. They were not put before a local court and were photographed marching to the waiting aircraft with Chinese police holding one arm and police from Vanuatu holding the other.
Andrew Napuat, Vanuatu’s internal affairs minister, said that because the six detainees were not charged with any crime in their home country they would not appear before a local court. However, any person within the archipelago’s jurisdiction should have the right to confront their accuser, he said.
Tess Newton Cain, an expert in Pacific affairs at the University of Queensland, said that the development was particularly troubling because Vanuatu was unable to say what the six were accused of. “Due process and natural justice don’t appear to have been observed,” she told Radio New Zealand.
Mr Napuat acknowledged that the arrest warrants presented by Chinese police did not list the crimes they were accused of but denied that this amounted to Beijing applying its law overseas. The Chinese jet sent to collect the group was required because other airlines flying to Vanuatu had declined to accept them, he said, adding that the country had “learnt lessons”........