Taiwan's tough anti-narcotics trafficking efforts, coupled with a shift in drug trafficking to China, have had a "dramatic" impact on reducing Taiwan's role as an international drug transfer point, the US State Department said on Thursday.
"More stringent law-enforcement procedures, together with improved customs inspection and surveillance methods have all but cut off serious flows of heroin from Taiwan to the United States," the department said in its annual report on drug producing countries.
At the same time, the expansion of transportation infrastructure in southern China and the opening of major container ports there, have diminished Taiwan's role in the drug trade, the report said.
The document is the first extensive explanation of the White House decision last November to remove Taiwan from a list of 24 of the world's worst drug transit centers.
China is the main source of drugs smuggled into Taiwan -- 93 percent of the methamphetamines and 53 percent of the heroin, the report said. Taiwan's ability to stem the flow is limited by Beijing's refusal to cooperate, it said.
The report also said the opening of direct trade and shipping links , especially after both Taiwan and China enter the WTO, "should reduce the incentives for the smuggling of agricultural goods."
The report praised Taiwan's progress in its efforts against money laundering but cited the "alarming trend" of the use of the stock market for money laundering.
The Money Laundering Prevention Center estimates that 40 percent of cases involve securities companies and that in half of the cases, criminal proceeds are smuggled abroad, mainly to the US, Thailand, Hong Kong and China.
The 1997 Money Laundering Control Act makes laundering a criminal offense, but excludes tax evasion and gaming from the law's scope.
The government is considering a number of amendments to the act, including barring financial institutions from informing clients when they report the client's suspicious transactions. Another amendment would require pawnshops, travel bureaus and other operations with known money laundering activity to report suspicious transactions.
"The successful prosecution of money launderers based on SAR [suspicious activity reports] reporting attests to the effectiveness of Taiwan's anti-money laundering scheme," the report said.
Despite Taiwan's removal from the major transit list, it still remains a "country/economy of concern," subject to continued US scrutiny.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique