The police authorities on the Chinese mainland had sent back 123 criminal suspects to Taiwan since 2000, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

As cross-Straits economic cooperation and personnel exchanges have become increasingly frequent, crime is on the rise, said Wu Heping, spokesman of the ministry, on Tuesday.

The police authorities on the mainland will safeguard the legitimate rights of compatriots on both sides of the Straits, he noted.

He stressed that mainland police would make every effort to arrest and send back criminal suspects wanted by Taiwan, who allegedly committed crimes in Taiwan and fled to the mainland.

On January 12, the Ministry of Public Security announced a man wanted by Taiwan police for robbing an armored bank vehicle had been arrested.

Li Hanyang, who worked as an armored vehicle driver in Taipei, stole 56 million New Taiwan dollars after drugging a colleague in the van on January 2, before flying to Hong Kong.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and the then Kuomintang Party Chairman Lien Chan reached a consensus on joint efforts to combat crimes in 2005.

The mainland would continue to promote joint combat against crimes and safeguard the legitimate rights of people on both sides, said Yang Yi, an official for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council recently.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2007)