BEIJING -- Cross-Straits law
enforcement departments will join forces to crack down on crimes and have nearly
reached agreement on extraditing suspects, a former Taiwan police agency
director said yesterday.
"Authorities have almost come up with detailed plans on the issue of
extraditing criminals, and there is a good unspoken understanding between the
two sides," said Lu Yu-jiun, who heads a group of 20 representatives from Taiwan
in a seminar on police science that opens in Shanghai today.
"Crimes are the common enemy of human beings, and (attacking crime) will have
far-reaching influences on cross-Straits relations," he said.
In future, the two sides will share information on crimes and conduct further
co-operation on cracking down on crimes, he said, despite many issues yet to be
tackled in cross-Straits communication.
Cross-Straits experts have long been calling for the mainland and Taiwan to
join hands in cracking down on crimes such as financial fraud, human
trafficking, smuggling, counterfeiting, and money laundering.
In the latest move, the Police Association of China sponsored the two-day
seminar for representatives from the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao and
will focus on the discussion of police sciences.
"The opening of the seminar reflects the common will of people from
cross-Straits and compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao," said Tian Qiyu, a
former vice-minister of Public Security and chairman of the association,
yesterday when he met representatives from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
"In the past few years, police officers from cross-Straits, Hong Kong and
Macao conducted effective co-operation on studying police science," he said.
But the seminar would be a new starting point for common efforts to attack
crimes in the future, he added.
"The seminar is an academic one," Lu said, "but academic studies are combined
with partnership on police affairs.
"We are seeking (the co-operation on police affairs)," he added.
