US asks Swiss courts to extradite Chinese scientist accused of stealing drug secrets
- Xue Gongda is accused of helping his sister Joyce Xue Yu to steal US$550m worth of information from the British drug firm GlaxoSmithKline
- Former diplomat says case cannot be compared to that of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou because suspect is on a lower level and Swiss courts will resist US pressure when decided on merits of case
Switzerland has found itself caught up in a potential dispute between the US and China after Washington began extradition proceedings in the case of a Chinese scientist accused of economic espionage.
Xue Gongda, a Basel resident, is accused of helping his sister steal secrets worth US$550 million from drug maker GlaxoSmithKline.
A former Swiss diplomat with knowledge of the case said that it was too early to speculate about what the courts would decide, but said that the Chinese government should not overreact if the request for extradition was granted because such a decision would have been handled impartially by the Swiss courts without US influence.
The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that the case could not be compared with that of Meng Wanzhou, the senior Huawei executive who is fighting extradition proceedings in Canada, saying the scientist was “nowhere near the level of Meng”.
The details of the case emerged on Monday in Swiss court documents showing that the federal criminal court had ruled that Xue should be held in custody pending a resolution of the US request because he was a potential flight risk.
