BEIJING - The Chinese mainland and Taiwan have enjoyed effective cooperation in jointly combating crimes in recent years, a mainland official said on Wednesday.

The State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Yang Yi said during a press conference that both sides have cooperated in cracking down on major crimes involving phone fraud, drugs, smuggling and kidnapping.

He said these joint efforts have helped to protect lives and property, in addition to improving cross-Straits exchanges.

In accordance with a cross-Straits agreement took effect in June 2009, mainland public security departments extradited 112 suspects to Taiwan as of the end of last month, while Taiwan extradited two back to the mainland as well, Yang said.

In response to a question concerning the current difficulties in repatriating convicted criminals, Yang said the problem is that Taiwan does not recognize mainland court decisions, which means that repatriated criminals may face a second trial if they are sent back to Taiwan.

He said Taiwan's position is against the spirit of the cross-Straits agreement on judicial assistance, urging Taiwan to take active measures to properly solve related issues.

The agreement was signed by the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan's Strait Exchange Foundation in April 2009.

The two sides agreed to exchange crime-related information and help each other investigate cases and collect evidence. Each side is also responsible for helping the other to identify witnesses and seize and repatriate criminals and criminal suspects.