President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of October 7 at the Presidential Office met with a visiting delegation from the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) of the United States. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, expressed a warm welcome to the visitors.
President Ma said that the NAAG has a history dating back over 100 years and that it is an extremely important group in the United States. He said the vast majority of members of this organization are elected officials. This is a significant difference with the system in Taiwan, he said.
The president said that state attorney generals in the United States have considerable experience and wield enormous influence within their respective states. Generally speaking, however, the attorney generals in Taiwan do not hold as much political sway as their American counterparts, he said. President Ma said the NAAG has a long history of interaction with Taiwan, adding that during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei, he welcomed a delegation from the NAAG, and that he is pleased that the NAAG has been able to send another delegation to visit Taiwan.
President Ma furthermore said that Taiwan and the United States are presently negotiating an extradition treaty. Upon signature of the agreement, it is hoped that suspects that have fled from Taiwan to the United States, especially those suspected of economic crimes, will be extradited back to Taiwan. In fact, he said, Taiwan already works together with the United States in the latter's request for assistance to arrest suspected criminals that have fled from the United States to Taiwan and to hand the said persons over to American authorities. This cooperation is taking place at present even without an extradition treaty in place between the two countries, he said. Given the long imbalance in the ways such situations are handled between the two countries, the President expressed his hope that the two sides can sign an extradition treaty as soon as possible. This will prevent suspected Taiwan criminals from being able to evade the law by fleeing to the United States and bring them to justice.
President Ma said that Taiwan and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) have cooperated at times in the past, noting that the method of cooperation has been referred to as"control delivery." The president said this refers to drug smugglers who transit through Taiwan or Japan from Southeast Asia on their way to the United States. When the smugglers transit through Taiwan's airports or ports, authorities here will not apprehend them, but rather closely monitor their movement. Information is forwarded to US authorities, thereby allowing DEA officials to apprehend the smugglers when they deliver their contraband on the West Coast of the United States. This process requires the utmost secrecy and cooperation. President Ma said the long-term cooperation in this area between Taiwan and the United States proves that both sides will be able to work well together if and after a bilateral extradition treaty is signed. President Ma expressed his hope that after the delegation returns to the United States, the members will work in urging the US administration and Congress to quickly complete the passage of related legislation, which will herald a new page in judicial cooperation between the two countries.