The two-day China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Prosecutors-General Conference concluded Friday with a joint declaration of establishing a cooperative mechanism in the fight against cross-border organized crimes.
Jia Chunwang, procurator-general of the Chinese Supreme People's Procuratorate, and his counterparts of ten ASEAN members Friday evening signed the declaration in Kungming, capital of southwestern China's Yunnan Province.
All procurators-general acknowledged that under the accelerating globalization of economy and information, it is necessary to strengthen the regional judicial cooperation to find effective measures to deal with non-traditional challenges and threats, said the declaration.
All of them agreed to launch close cooperation in fighting against terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, human and weapon smuggling, and other cross-border crimes in line with related international laws and conventions.
They also vowed to widen the judicial cooperative fields and set up active judicial cooperation in collecting evidence, investigating suspects and witnesses, seeking lost properties and extraditing criminals, the declaration said.
In order to improve cooperative efficiency, they decided to build special networks concerning information collection, search, exchange and transfer to enhance cooperative efficiency.
"The joint declaration shows that China and ASEAN countries have achieved comprehensive agreements in fighting against cross-border crimes to maintain the regional stability," said Jia Chunwang.
China and ASEAN countries have decided to establish a regular annual meeting mechanism of procurators-general. The next meeting will be held in Thailand in 2005.
Due to the diversified legal systems in different Asian countries, some loopholes certainly exist in the fight against the transnational crimes. In recent years, China and the ASEAN countries have enhanced their direct cooperation in specific judicial fields, and have made remarkable progress in the combat against cross-border crimes.
(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2004)
