While President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has lauded the effects of an agreement on mutual judicial assistance between Taiwan and China following the release on Saturday of Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioner Bruce Chung (鐘鼎邦) by Chinese authorities, only six out of the more than 1,000 Taiwanese convicted and sentenced in China have been transferred back to the country in the past three years, government statistics show.
According to the latest statistics by the Ministry of Justice, since the signing of the Agreement on Joint Cross-Strait Crime Fighting and Mutual Judicial Assistance by Taiwan and China in April 2009, the government has requested the return of 334 of more than 1,000 Taiwanese who are currently serving sentences in China.
However, only six have been handed over to Taiwan’s judicial system, while the extraditions of the rest are still “underway,” the statistics show.
The agreement states in its preface that both parties agree to render assistance in deporting across the Taiwan Strait transgressors who have been convicted of a civil or criminal offense.
To avoid any wrongful prosecution, the agreement affords judicial authorities from both sides of the Strait a chance to review the rulings handed down upon their respective citizens as well as all legal documents on the investigations launched by the other side of the Strait into those who have been pronounced guilty.
Despite these promises, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said during a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee last year that as of the beginning of this year, only one Taiwanese convicted in China was deported back to Taiwan, an alarming figure that has not improved in spite of Lai’s continued negotiations with her counterparts in China in the past three years.
An unidentified source familiar with China’s judicial system said that Chung, who was detained for more than 50 days on allegations that he had compromised China’s national security, was only released and deported back to Taiwan as the result of relentless petitions by Taiwanese of all walks of society.
Widespread media attention to Chung’s detention during the eighth round of cross-strait talks between Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) last week also contributed to Chung’s release, the source said.
The source said that without such efforts and media coverage in Taiwan, Chung would most likely be sentenced to prison and become another name on a long list waiting for deportation to Taiwan.
Meanwhile, of the 640 wanted Taiwanese fugitives in China, 203 have been returned to Taiwan since the agreement was signed, statistics have shown.
However, a number of Taiwan’s most-wanted fugitives who fled to China — including former Tuntex Group chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪), former legislative speaker Liu Sung-pan (劉松藩), former Kuangsan Enterprise Group president Tseng Cheng-jen (曾正仁) and former Kaohsiung Council speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) — are still at large.
On the other hand, Taiwan has captured and deported five out of seven — or 71 percent of — of Chinese fugitives in Taiwan who are wanted across the Strait.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS