nation for president next year, enjoys a strong reputation as a tough-talking lawyer. But strangely enough, Hsieh appears to be just as willing as President Chen Shui-bian, another former star lawyer, to disregard legal principles when discussing hot political issues.
Over the past several days, angry words have been traded between ruling and opposition camps regarding the flight of economic fugitive Wang You-theng, who managed to slip out of Taiwan just before prosecutors sought his arrest on corruption and embezzlement charges.
According to Hsieh, Taiwan's lack of diplomatic clout is to blame for Taipei's inability to extradite Wang from the U.S. back to Taiwan.
We find it hard to believe that Frank Hsieh, a legal wizard who once hosted his own TV show discussing legal issues, has apparently forgotten the real reason why Taiwan lacks a mechanism for extraditing fugitives from the United States, as well as many other countries.
While Taipei and Washington recently reached a landmark legal assistance agreement, they have failed to agree on an extradition agreement because extradition is not a one-way street.
Not so long ago, in the early 1990s, the current roles were reversed and the U.S. Department of Justice was actively seeking the extradition of a fugitive named Huang Kuang-chieh, who was wanted in connection with a major heroin smuggling case.
At the time, Huang managed to get into Taiwan, where he was protected from deportation by virtue of possessing ROC nationality.
Indeed, there was little that our government could do to help the Americans, since our law forbids the government from extraditing ROC nationals abroad. After Washington became increasingly frustrated with our inability to send Huang back to the U.S., efforts to negotiate a Taiwan-U.S. legal assistance agreement were tossed on the back burner.
It is true that many countries around the world have similar laws barring their legal authorities from extraditing nationals and we are not alone.
However, it is clear to see why other governments, especially countries like the U.S., where many Taiwanese have emigrated, are not eager to reach extradition accords with us.
Contrary to what Frank Hsieh would have us believe, Taiwan's political status in the world has relatively little to do with our success in reaching extradition agreements with foreign countries.
Since such agreements are reached on the basis of reciprocity, the main factor behind reaching such an agreement is our own government's ability and willingness to extradite fugitives from Taiwan to other countries.
Taipei and Washington did manage to sign the "AIT-TECRO Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement" in 2002, which provides an excellent cooperation mechanism for judicial authorities in both countries.
But under the terms of that agreement, persons in the custody of either country can only be transferred for the purpose of gathering evidence, and only for as long as necessary to gather the needed evidence.
After all of the hoopla surrounding Wang You-theng's case has settled down, our Legislative Yuan will eventually have to decide whether to repeal existing law barring extradition of ROC nationals.
If and when that breakthrough were to occur, we would need to reach an extradition agreement with Washington before we can expect the U.S. to actually begin sending fugitives back here.
Even the existence of an extradition agreement by itself is no guarantee that all fugitives will be handed over.
Under current U.S. procedure, extradition requests are usually forwarded from the State Department to the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs.
If that office finds that the request should proceed, an assistant U.S. attorney in the jurisdiction where the alleged offender is located will arrange for the suspect to be arrested and brought before a federal court -- usually a lowly magistrate judge.
At that point, a hearing is held to determine whether the individual is "extraditable."
If this hurdle can be cleared, the court will then certify the fugitive's extraditability to the U.S. secretary of state, who then makes a final decision on whether to hand over the individual.
In the United States, as well as many other countries, several conditions must be met for a fugitive to be deemed "extraditable," not least of which there must be an extradition treaty or agreement with the government seeking extradition.
For example, an investigation must be pending, or the necessary witnesses and evidence must still be available so that the individual may have a fair trial after extradition.
The exact date of the alleged offenses committed is also important, since there are statutes of limitations that may have run out by the time the request is made.
The list of requirements goes on and on, but surprisingly, "political clout of the requesting country" is not among any of the elements for extradition.
Instead of whining about our lack of diplomatic clout, Frank Hsieh should dust off his law books.
