| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 國家安全與大陸研究碩士在職專班 === 95 === After the Cold War, globalization has become an international trend. Globalization brings economic prosperity and development. However, it also assists the expansion of organized crime and increases the international crime rate. Among all the different types of organized crime, drug smuggling is the most representative of this. Drugs have been a major problem in the world and have threatened society for more than half a century. Although international organizations and governments in different countries have worked together to prevent drug trafficking, the problem is still getting worse. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s report in 2006, up to 200 million people, which was about 5% of the world population aged between 15 and 64, abused drugs. According to a statistical data, the crime rate of illegal drug smuggling in the world has risen, and amount of drugs sold has increased year by year. In the 21st century, the total amount of drugs sold in the world is up to USD.800 billion to USD.1 trillion every year, which is not different than amount of the international trade of weapons. It is obvious that under the trend of globalization, drug trafficking has become more international, organized, professional and technical. In addition, the flooding of drugs internationally has become more and more serious.
In the age of globalization, the problem of drug crime in Asia is getting more and more serious. Among all the Asian countries, the related crime rate in China has increased most rapidly. In Taiwan, the crime rate also has increased. The problem has been getting worse in Taiwan since the 1990s. Heroin and methamphetamine were the most commonly abused drugs in the 1990s. In 1993, the Taiwan government declared a war against drug trafficking because of the high peak in the crime rate. Afterwards, the problem improved noticeably. However, after a decade of the anti-drug campaign, the problem got serious again. Recently, the appearance of newly synthetic drugs (such as MDMA, ketamine and FM2) has caused a great diversity of drugs to spring up and the result has been a corresponding increase in the complexity of related crimes. The flooding of drugs at a fast pace has already endangered the country and the society as a whole tremendously. Since 1996, Mainland China has become the main supplier of heroin to Taiwan. Owing to the trend of globalization, China has also become the main country producing, transporting and exporting drugs in the world. At present, dealings and contacts between Taiwan and China have become more frequent, and has led to some significant changes across the strait. Some of these changes include membership in the WTO, the development of trade links (the mini three links), and the development of tourism between Taiwan and China. These factors have made it easier for drug gangs to smuggle drugs back and forth between the two countries. This has made it more challenging for authorities in dealing with the rise in drug trafficking.
Respecting the fact that drug trafficking is getting more and more serious in Taiwan in recent years, the Taiwan Government announced in 2004 that from 2005 to 2008 would be the “Years to fight drugs nationally”. It also declared a war against drugs once again. Still, whether or not the current drug inspecting system, resources, and related laws in Taiwan can match against international drug smuggling trend is still questionable. Especially when it comes to the issues of drug smuggling between China and Taiwan, which is an important part of the drug problem in Taiwan, there is still no cooperative mechanism across the strait. Therefore, there is still no effective way to stop the crime rate from rising and to eradicate cross-border drug gangs. In lieu of this, how to improve the anti-drug mechanism is a serious issue. Some suggestions have been to combine different resources, and enhance skills of the drug enforcement units in Taiwan, as well as to promote international cooperation between Taiwan and China are necessary so that the drug trafficking problem can be solved and the supply of drugs from other countries can be stopped at the same time.
Key words: Globalization, drug smuggling, drug trafficking, drug gangs, synthetic drugs, drug enforcement, drug enforcement cooperation across the strait, international drug enforcement cooperation
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