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.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS