The Ministry of Justice said yesterday that if all goes well, Taiwan will sign a judicial assistance agreement with the US to jointly combat crime.
Justice officials said that after years of effort, the negotiations between Taiwan and the US finally bore fruit last week.
They said that after the ministry's negotiating team returns, Taiwan and the US will first initial the agreement and then formally sign it after the signing of a memorandum of understanding.
It has been learned that the agreement will possibly cover an anti-drug campaign, a cooperation project to identify the sources of the drugs, a framework to map out the regulations governing the control of drug delivery and undercover investigations, the establishment of a system for tracking large amounts of money transactions and the purchase of X-ray machines to inspect shipping containers.
The officials said that past ministry heads and even Minister of Justice Cheng Ding-nan (
The officials noted that after the US listed Taiwan as a major drug transshipment center in 1995, all ministry heads have stressed to the US that Taiwan has been doing all it could to stop the flow of illegal drugs into and through the country.
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