China and Japan signed an agreement yesterday on mutual assistance and cooperation in law enforcement, information exchange, technical cooperation and personnel training between their customs departments.

 

Under the agreement, Chinese and Japanese customs authorities are obliged to exchange information on suspected breaches of customs laws and regulations within their respective jurisdictions.

 

The agreement includes surveillance of people under suspicion of flouting customs laws.

 

The agreement was signed by Sun Songpu, deputy director of China's General Administration of Customs, and Chihiro Atsumi, minister for economic affairs with the Japanese Embassy in China.

 

The agreement will further consolidate the legal basis for bilateral cooperation between the two countries' customs departments, Chinese Customs 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 involving drug trafficking, intellectual property rights protection and business irregularities since 2001.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2006)