Mei said among the 40-50 names on the most-wanted list of fugitives compiled by the Chinese government, half are hiding in Canada.

"I have no objections if the Canadian government finally decided to deport me, but I will never stop appealing," Lai told the CBV.

Lai, his wife and their three children fled to Canada from Hong Kong in 1999 to seek asylum and escape prosecution.

They applied for political refugee status in 2000, but were turned down by the Canadian government in 2004.

"The Canadian government is still conducting the risk assessment of Lai's asylum application," Lai's lawyer Matas said.

Although a work permit from the Canadian immigration department was granted to Lai in February, Lai's status as an illegal immigrant remained unchanged.

"Because Lai is still an illegal immigrant in Canada, the repatriation of him is simply a matter of time," said Huang Feng, a law professor in the Beijing Normal University and an expert on extradition.

"If Lai is forced to be repatriated, he might not be allowed to go back to Canada for good. But if he voluntarily asks to be deported, he may be allowed by Canadian authorities to return in the future," the professor told China Daily.

Moreover, if he voluntarily returns to China and makes a good confession in the trial, he might get a lenient sentence, Huang said.

"Lai is still a Chinese citizen, so the government is obligated to receive him and protect him no matter what situation he had been involved in before fleeing to Canada," Huang said.

"Choosing to voluntarily be deported is at least a better choice than being forcibly deported."

Tong Jianming, spokesman of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, yesterday declined to comment on Lai's overture.

Lai should have been sent back and sentenced a long time ago, said an anonymous ex-employee of Fujian-based Kaiyuan Foreign Trade Group, which was implicated in Lai's smuggling case.

"It's a domestic case and it should be dealt in the country without intervention," he added.

Kenney, the Canadian official, said in an interview with Vancouver-based Omini TV station that Lai was not the obstacle between the developments of Canada-China relation, because both China and Canada knew the case was before the Canadian court that neither government has any power on.

(China Daily August 7, 2009)