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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
RSS