President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged Washington to pass an extradition agreement to ensure that both countries can bring criminals to justice, especially those implicated in white-collar crimes.
Ma said there had long been an imbalance in the deportation of suspects, and that Taiwan had been cooperative in meeting the US’ requests despite the lack of an extradition agreement.
FUGITIVES
“Once the agreement is signed, Taiwanese fugitives escaping to the US can be brought home for trial and will no longer be at large in the US,” Ma said.
The president made the remarks while receiving members of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
Ma said Taipei has long cooperated with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to monitor shipments of illegal substances.
When a known shipment of illegal substances or a suspected drug dealer travels through Taiwan on its way to the US west coast, often via Japan, Taipei monitors the situation and informs the DEA, which then makes the arrests, Ma said.
The operations are kept confidential and Taipei has offered its full cooperation, he said, which “only proves that we will continue to fully cooperate.”
Ma asked NAAG members to urge the US government and Congress to improve judicial cooperation with Taiwan.
DEAFLYMPICS
The president also said yesterday he would attend the opening ceremony of next year’s Deaflympics in Taipei.
Ma said about 4,000 athletes from some 80 countries had expressed interest in participating in the event.
The former Taipei mayor said he was happy to see the capital holding an Olympics-related event and that he hoped the international community would see for themselves the efforts Taipei has put into meeting the needs of the hearing-impaired.
Ma made the remarks while receiving Donalda Kay Ammons, chairwoman of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf, at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
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STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
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