Taiwan and Vietnam Planning to Enter into Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement

E080326Y6・E080326Z6 Apr. 2008（E101）

　Major improvement in relationship between Vietnam and Taiwan’s justice ties. Taiwan government dispatched a visiting group including the Director Chiang Huei-Min (江惠民), Ministry of Justice to Vietnam last week. The purpose of the visit is for the group to have secret meeting with Vietnam high-level officials to negotiate issues with respect to the drafted Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLAA) between Vietnam and Taiwan.

　MLAA covers area in the field of crime investigations including the following activities: interrogating witnesses, providing documents, confirming related parties identifications and residences, service of documents, assisting procedures in execution for search, seizure and confiscate; any form of assistance not in violation with the Law and Act of the county requesting for assistance. Vietnam government hopes to enter into a similar MLAA with Taiwan; similar to the one they entered into with mainland China. Vietnam government also intends to include areas covering civil matters and family matters in the MLAA; including mutual recognition provisions for certifying documents, divorcing, inheritance and civil judgment for people in Taiwan and Vietnam.

　If Taiwan successfully enters into the MLAA with Vietnam, then Vietnam will be the second country, after the U.S.A., to enter into MLAA with Taiwan. The said agreement will greatly facilitate both countries in combating drugs and activities in illegal immigration.

　Officials from the Ministry of Justice pointed out that there is a growing contact among Taiwanese and people in the South East Asia. According to the statistic data, number of Vietnamese brides is the top one of foreign brides in Taiwan, 74,000-75,000 people in total. Adding the 70,000 some Vietnamese foreign labors in Taiwan over the recent years with the number of Vietnamese brides in Taiwan, the total number of Vietnamese in Taiwan is around 150,000. Both the Taiwanese and Vietnamese government are highly concerned on issues relating to public order, criminal acts, marriage, rights and interests for divorced Vietnamese and rights for fostering offspring, since these issues can easily be caused by the large number of Vietnamese people in Taiwan.

Countries which entered into MLAA or Extradition Treaty with Taiwan

1.Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLAA)	Taiwan and the United States America signed MLAA on March 2002
2.Extradition Treaty	Taiwan has signed with the following 7 countries: Dominican Republic, Dominica, South Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, Costa Rica, and Paraguay.
3.Countries which did not sign Extradition Treaty with Taiwan	In accordance with the Law of Extradition, other countries can raise requests asking Taiwan to assist extradition. Taiwan will offer assistance for extradition following the international reciprocal principal or arrangement in order to combat crimes.