The US and China are locked in a battle over the custody of a Chinese woman accused of importing illegal medication, including the diet pills Reductil and Xenical and erectile dysfunction medications like Viagra and Cialis.
Miao Qun Huang, also known as Cherry Wong, has been investigated by U.S officials for illegal trade of counterfeit medications, and the National Bureau of Investigation has placed her on ‘provisional arrest’ to be extradited to from the Philippines to Texas. The provisional warrant was issued by a Manila court.
However the Chinese embassy in a diplomatic note sent to the Department of Justice said that as she was a Chinese national holding a Chinese passport, and her crimes were committed in the Chinese mainland, they believed that China had jurisdiction over her. They added that China was strongly opposed to her extradition to any third country without their prior consent.
If she is successfully extradited to Texas, Huang will face 7 charges of trafficking counterfeit Viagra, Cialis, Xenical and Reductil. Her lawyer is arguing that as the Philippines and China signed their own extradition treaty preventing the extradition of a country’s citizen without the consent of their country of nationality, she cannot be sent to Texas to face trial.
Her lawyer Jose Bernas has said that her extradition would set a dangerous precedent in international law, warning that it could leave the Philippines open to the extradition of their own nationals, either from the Philippines or a third country, for crimes committed outside of the requesting state’s territory.