A delegation of Chinese officials visited the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday, a first since both sides of the Taiwan Strait signed an agreement on joint efforts to combat crime in April.
The Chinese delegation was headed by Zhou Ning (周寧), a representative from the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) and the Taiwan Affairs Office.
The purpose of the visit was to discuss how to implement the agreement. Delegation members, including officials from public security, judiciary and law enforcement agencies also visited courts, police headquarters, prosecutors and investigators.
While joint efforts to combat crime and judicial cooperation were first discussed in a 1993 meeting between then SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) and then ARATS chairman Wang Daohan (汪道涵), the time was not then ripe to reach any consensus, SEF Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) said yesterday.
Since both sides resumed bilateral talks last year, Kao said Taipei and Beijing were willing to face reality, put disputes aside and resolve problems during frequent cross-strait exchanges.
Both sides signed three agreements and one joint statement in April. The agreement on joint efforts to combat crime was the first time both sides touched on social issues, Kao said, adding it was a breakthrough in the history of cross-strait relations.
For the remainder of this year, Kao said the SEF would “arrange an appropriate time” for members of the Taiwanese judiciary to visit China.
Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Fu Don-cheng (傅棟成) said both sides had yet to discuss the time and place for the next round of high-level cross-strait talks.
The two sides will address fishing industry cooperation, quality checks on agricultural products, cross-strait cooperation in inspection and certification and the prevention of double taxation in the next round of cross-strait negotiation, Fu said.
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