Taiwanese judicial authorities continue to cooperate with China in combating crime and repatriation of convicted offenders, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a report.
China has repatriated 511 wanted Taiwanese fugitives since the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議) took effect in 2009, the report added.
Both countries have listed fighting cross-border smuggling of narcotic drugs, telecom fraud, cyberscam operations, endangerment of food and pharmaceutical safety, and human smuggling rings as their priorities, the report said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The MAC said that Taiwan and China have cooperated to bust about 100 cases of narcotic drug smuggling since 2009, confiscating a total of 550.31kg of heroin, 2,438.8kg of amphetamine, 2,650.8kg of ephedrine for making illegal stimulants, 3,853kg of ketamine, 1,040kg of methcathinone, while the Coast Guard Administration reported seizing 10,128kg of narcotics and illegal drugs.
From 2019 to January this year, 24 offenders were repatriated from China, while Taiwan assisted in the return of a Chinese national surnamed Wang (王) in January, who is wanted as the primary suspect in a murder, the report said.
Taiwanese authorities have successfully clamped down on cross-border telecom fraud and cyberscam operations in Taiwan, China and Southeast Asia, by coordinating with agencies across government ministries, the report said, adding that they raided the largest money transfer and laundering center of these criminal rings in Taiwan in November 2016, whose offices were located in New Taipei City, as well as “underground banking” sites for cross-border scam rings in Hsinchu, Yilan and Nantou counties.
“As of January this year, Taiwanese and Chinese judiciary authorities have made official requests, sent and received official notifications, presented results of investigations and gathering evidence, and repatriated wanted criminals, accumulating a total of 140,000 pages of documentation,” the MAC said.
The Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement has been helpful in legal protection of personal rights during prosecution processes, and guarantees the right to property and assets of citizens in Taiwan and China, it added.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS