Mainland-Taiwan Ties

Cross-Straits crime-fighting pact seen effective: official

(HK Edition)
Updated: 2009-12-02 07:32

TAIPEI: Since Taiwan and the mainland agreed to assist one another in the fight against cross-Straits crime in June, the two sides have gradually established an institutionalized cooperation mechanism and successfully cracked a cross-Straits scam ring, a Taiwanese official said Monday.

Between June 25 and October 31, judicial authorities in Taiwan and the mainland received 4,199 requests to investigate and arrest criminals, according to Liu Te-shun, vice chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).

While it will take time for the cooperation platform to function more effectively, Liu said, judicial authorities on both sides of the Taiwan Straits have achieved initial success in fighting crime by exposing a fraud ring and arresting 76 Taiwanese and more than 10 mainland suspects earlier this month.

Taiwan has also requested mainland authorities extradite Taiwan residents who have committed economic crimes in Taiwan, taken advantage of the judicial loopholes, and fled across the Straits, Liu said.

The "Agreement on Joint Cross-Straits Crime-fighting and Mutual Judicial Assistance," between the two sides took effect on June 25.

It was reached on April 26 upon the conclusion of the third round of talks between Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Ping-kun and the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin in Nanjing.

In addition to the agreement, the two representatives signed accords in which the two sides agreed to increase the number of direct flights and flight destinations between the two sides, as well as to promote mainland investment in Taiwan.

On July 4, the first large group of mainland tourists arrived in Taiwan, Liu said, adding that between July and October, Taiwan received 513,229 mainland visitors and grossed some $1.05 billion worth of spending by the tourists from the mainland.

Among the over 500,000 tourists from the mainland, only 15 cases of tourists gone missing or overstaying their visas have been reported, according to Liu.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 12/02/2009 page2)