4 years of mainland-Taiwan crimefighting agreement

BEIJING (Xinhua) - The Chinese mainland and Taiwan have made notable progress in jointly fighting crime, said a mainland spokeswoman here on Sunday.

The two sides of the Taiwan Strait have together cracked more than 10,000 cases of phone fraud and arrested about 4,700 suspects since a cross-Strait agreement on judicial cooperation was signed in April, 2009, said Fan Liqing, of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference.

Police from both sides have also worked together in several big drug trafficking cases, leading to the seizure of about 1,720 kg of narcotics by mainland police over the past four years, according to Fan.

In the same period, the mainland has handed over 288 people wanted by Taiwan authorities, and four mainland fugitives have been returned by Taiwan, she said.

The two sides have also exchanged information about people in each other's custody, the spokeswoman added.

In addition, 12 Taiwan residents who were seriously ill while serving terms in the mainland have been returned to Taiwan.

Under the judicial cooperation agreement, the mainland and Taiwan agreed to jointly crack down on severe crimes such as murder, smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering and terrorist activities.

They pledged to exchange information and help each other in investigations and collecting evidence.