"The agreement has enabled the Ministry of Justice to forge a communication mechanism with its Chinese counterpart through which many illegal Chinese immigrants have been repatriated and several major cross-strait criminal cases have been solved in recent months," said Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan.

Speaking during a visit to the legislative caucus of the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) , Lai said the judicial cooperative mechanism will operate even more smoothly and effectively in the future.

She was responding to complaints by NPSU Legislator Lin Ping-kun that some Taiwanese fishermen from his offshore home county of Penghu have been languishing in Chinese prisons for allegedly smuggling farm produce.

"Their families originally hoped that the signing of a cross-strait judicial aid accord would have allowed their loved ones to be extradited back to Taiwan... When I traveled to Beijing to explore why the imprisoned Penghu folks have not yet been repatriated, Chinese officials in charge of Taiwan affairs told me they had not been approached by any Taiwanese counterparts over the issue," Lin said.

He said the government should not just indulge in publicity and should instead take concrete action to address cross-strait issues and realize the goals of the agreement.

In response, Lai admitted that it "might take some time" for cross-strait agreements to come to fruition.

For instance, she added, the number of Chinese tourists entering Taiwan has approached the daily ceiling of 3,000 in recent days after a slow start following the signing of a raft of agreements that have gradually paved the way for the establishment of direct air links and tourist market opening over the past year.

As for the imprisoned Penghu fishermen, Lai promised that the council will ask the Ministry of Justice to look into those cases.

(By Huang Ming-hsi and Sofia Wu)