THE head of a Chinese quasi-official body on cross-Strait matters urged Taiwan to separate politics from the issue of repatriating hijackers to help stop air piracy.
Wang Daohan, the chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), was speaking at the end of a directors' meeting in Beijing.
According to the China News Service (CNS), Mr Wang said the repatriation of hijackers was ''complicated'' by Taiwan's insistence on its right to exercise legal jurisdiction over the hijackers on the island.
''By mixing political issues, such as the power of legal jurisdiction, with procedural matters, it makes it difficult to solve the procedural matters,'' he said.
Mr Wang insisted that hijacking was a criminal offence and should fall within the Quemoy agreement signed by the two sides earlier on the repatriation of cross-strait criminals.
Like any other criminals, hijackers should be sent back in accordance with the deal, he said.