HOW CHINESE CORRUPTION corrupts the world.

China, like Russia, is a country based on a mix of Tammany Hall and Wild West capitalism. And like Russian oligarchs eager to stash their money where Putin can’t get at it, increasingly the Chinese mega-rich are trying to get their money where Xi can’t claw it back.

This presents tough questions for Western law enforcement. Neither Chinese nor Russian courts operate under clear legal norms, especially in cases that have political ramifications. So decisions reached by what are often kangaroo courts in these countries can’t be enforceable in the West without compromising our own adherence to the rule of law.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that large numbers of people have enriched themselves through criminal means. And as these thieves and crooks (and in more than a few cases, murderers and thugs) use Western banks and legal protections to shelter their gains, there is a serious erosion of standards of morality and legality.

It’s hard to get the balance right. . . . When we find evidence, as in this case, that exported money from China has been used in a corruption scheme aimed at subverting institutions outside China, then the hammer needs to come down hard.

The Clintons were an early version of Chinese-exported corruption. Nothing happened to them.