China and Japan signed an agreement in Beijing on Sunday on
mutual assistance and cooperation in law enforcement, information
exchange, technical cooperation and personnel training between
their customs departments.
Under the agreement, customs of the two countries are obliged to
provide each other with information on possible activities
breaching the Customs laws and regulations within their
jurisdiction.
According to the agreement the Customs departments of the two
countries shall, at the request of the other, conduct special
surveillance of people suspected of breaking customs laws.
The agreement was signed by Sun Songpu, deputy director of the
General Administration of Customs, and Chihiro Atsumi, minister
with the Japanese Embassy in China on behalf their governments.
The agreement will further consolidate the legal basis for
bilateral cooperation between the Customs departments of the two
countries, the Chinese Customs department said in a statement.
China and Japan are each other's third largest trading partner,
and the two countries have cooperated with each other many times on
customs cases including drug trafficking, intellectual property
rights protection and business irregularities since 2001.
(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2006)
