BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese government is in advanced talks with the United States on repatriating five of China’s most wanted corruption suspects and will hand over whatever evidence is needed by its U.S. counterparts, Chinese state media said on Wednesday.

The Hudson County Correctional Center is pictured in Kearny, New Jersey May 28, 2015. A former senior Chinese official, who went into hiding after being sought by anti-corruption investigators in China, has been detained in the United States, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Thursday. Yang Xiuzhu, a senior official who oversaw construction projects in the booming eastern province of Zhejiang, is in U.S. custody pending her removal to China, Luis Martinez, a spokesman for the U.S. immigration agency, said in a statement. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

In April, China published a list of 100 of its most wanted corruption suspects who have been targeted with an Interpol red notice, many living in the United States, Canada and Australia. About 18 have been recovered so far this year.

China’s efforts have long been hampered by Western nations that balk at signing extradition deals, partly out of concern about its judicial system and use of torture and the death penalty.

China is currently seeking U.S. judicial help in repatriating the five, four of whom are still at large, to face trial in China, the official China Daily quoted an unnamed official with the graft-fighting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection as saying.

“We are negotiating with our U.S. counterparts on the five major corrupt fugitives, including Yang Xiuzhu, who is suspected of illegal immigration and is in custody awaiting deportation proceedings,” said the official.

“And we have decided to conduct joint investigations of the major cases.”

Yang has filed for asylum in the United States.

The report did not name the other four suspects.

The official said the United States had asked China to provide more evidence to help with their investigation.

“We are in advanced negotiations with U.S. judicial authorities on the five major cases, including Yang’s, and will exchange information in a timely manner and offer necessary evidence to the U.S. judicial authorities for further investigation,” he added, without providing details.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department said that at recent law enforcement meetings, Chinese officials agreed to provide evidence regarding priority fugitive cases so that U.S. law enforcement officials “could assess whether prosecution or removal of these individuals is appropriate.”

The United States could only cooperate when a country provided sufficient evidence for U.S. law enforcement agencies to investigate cases in accordance with domestic laws, the spokeswoman, Katina Adams, said.

“The United States does not politicize the removal process and all cases must work their way through the immigration system,” she said.

Reuters has found that some of China’s most wanted are living openly in the United States and Canada.

Last week, a top Chinese anti-graft official said corruption suspects who have fled abroad have been abusing legal systems of host countries to prolong their cases in what is a big challenge to China’s efforts to get them back.