President Tsai Ing-wen said April 24 that the government is willing and able to share Taiwan’s judicial reform experiences with Central America in an effort to advance national development and strengthen bilateral relations.
Taiwan has signed judicial cooperation agreements with Guatemala and Honduras, as well as pacts on police cooperation with Belize and the Dominican Republic, Tsai said. It is hoped these accords will pave the way toward greater collaboration in related fields and strengthen good governance, she added.
Tsai made the remarks while receiving a delegation of senior officials and representatives of anti-corruption agencies from diplomatic allies Belize, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua at the Office of the President in Taipei City.
According to Tsai, every country has to address the issue of fighting corruption, and the U.N. places great importance on policies and work in this regard. Taiwan is as determined as any other nation to pursue clean government, she said, citing two years of reforms producing a judicial system that guarantees human rights.
Other achievements, Tsai said, include enactment of the Act to Implement U.N. Convention against Corruption in 2015 and establishment of the Agency Against Corruption under the Ministry of Justice in 2011.
Although these efforts helped Taiwan rank 29th out of 180 countries and territories in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2017 issued by Germany-headquartered Transparency International, Tsai said the government is not resting on its laurels.
More progress will be made in delivering even cleaner government with the release of the first national anti-corruption report in August and invitation of international scholars to participate in the review process, she added. (SFC-E)
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