The top legislature Tuesday at the 24th Session of the 10th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ratified the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation with Afghanistan, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981 with Turkmenistan, a treaty instituting judicial cooperation with Australia on criminal cases, and an extradition treaty with Azerbaijan.

 

The Good-neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between China and Afghanistan, signed by President Hu Jintao and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Beijing on June 19, 2006, says the two sides will enhance the fight against terrorism, separatism, and extremism.

 

"Under the treaty, China and Afghanistan will launch more military and security cooperation and expand exchanges in trade, agriculture, science, education, natural resources exploration and so on," said Deputy Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

 

Chinese experts have voiced concern that terrorists and drugs in Afghanistan are threatening peace and stability in China's western region.

 

Signing the treaty will consolidate China-Afghanistan ties, and be helpful in maintaining peace in Afghanistan and to fight "East Turkistan" terrorists in western China, source with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress said.

 

The Sino-Turkmenistan Cooperative Agreement on Combating the "Three Evil Forces" says the two countries will share information and provide technological support.

 

Suspected terrorists, separatists, and extremists as defined by the pact should not be denied extradition as political refugees, the agreement says.

 

"As the three evil forces have run rampant in central Asia, the pact will help step up security cooperation between China and Turkmenistan," said Yang, when briefing lawmakers at the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress last Friday.

 

The 20-article pact, signed in Beijing in April 3, 2006, is the third international pact signed by China with other countries to safeguard regional peace and stability.

 

China has inked a collective agreement on fighting the three evil forces with Kirghizia, Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan and Uzbekistan, which are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional inter-governmental body.

 

The second pact was signed with Pakistan, a SCO observer, in 2005.

 

Established in 2001, the SCO is committed to fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism in order to maintain regional peace, security and stability.

 

The treaty instituting judicial cooperation with Australia shows the country's efforts in forging an international network to combat rising cross-border crime.

 

"With closer political and economic ties and more personnel exchanges, criminal cases involving China and Australia are on the rise," Yang said.

 

Improved judicial cooperation, especially in handling criminal suspects who go into hiding in Australia, was increasingly necessary, Yang said.

 

The treaty will enable China to deal more effectively with economic crimes in which corrupt officials flee abroad to seek asylum in developed countries, analysts said.

 

Australia, which has no capital punishment, can refuse to offer China legal assistance if a criminal suspect may face a death sentence in China.

 

After negotiation, the two countries have finally decided to omit mention of the death sentence in the treaty, but to "show enough attention respectively" in the memorandum of talks, a diplomatic source said.

 

Under the treaty, the two countries should provide each other with the "broadest assistance" possible in criminal investigations, prosecution and litigation.

 

But the assistance does not include extradition, the treaty says.

 

Criminal cases also include offences against finance and tax laws, according to the treaty.

 

Police statistics show that 500 suspects wanted for economic crimes were on the run abroad in 2004. They were accused of crimes involving a total of more than 70 billion yuan (US$875 million).

 

A 2004 report released by the research institute attached to the Ministry of Commerce said about 4,000 Chinese officials suspected of crimes involving US$50 billion had fled overseas since China launched economic reforms in 1978.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2006)