High-level cross-Taiwan Strait official police exchanges have stopped in the wake of increased tension between the two sides, National Police Agency Director-General Chen Kuo-en (陳國恩) said.
High-level exchanges between the two sides have stopped, Chen said, although information exchanges and the mutual notification system remain in place.
Cross-strait relations became more tense since China blocked Taiwan’s participation in the annual World Health Assembly last month and since the detention of Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) in March.
According to agency statistics, the two sides of the strait have continued to cooperate on criminal investigations, but such cooperation has slowed, Chen said
There were 16 and 37 cooperative cases in 2014 and 2015, respectively, but the number dwindled to just five last year, he said.
The number of criminals repatriated also dropped significantly, from 54 in both 2014 and 2015 to 13 last year.
Chen said that as exchanges have stalled, it is difficult for them to conduct joint operations to clamp down on crime.
However, the agency said it hopes to maintain communication with the other side to address cross-border crime, and that criminals would continue to be repatriated to both sides to help with investigations, he said.
Chen appeared to be referring to Taiwanese involved in telecom fraud rings operating in other countries who have been “repatriated” to China rather Taiwan.
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