Taiwan has recently joined the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) , the only global non-government organization of prosecutors, under the title of Chinese Taipei, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said Sunday. After twists and turns regarding its title, Taiwan was finally notified by IAP Secretary-General Henk Marquart Scholtz Oct. 20 that it had been admitted into the body as an organizational member under the name Chinese Taipei, the MOJ said. The membership will allow Taiwan's MOJ and public prosecutors to share with other IAP members resources related to mutual judicial assistance and to host international IAP meetings. The IAP was established by the United Nations in 1995 in Vienna due to rapid growth in transnational crime such as drug trafficking, money laundering and fraud. At present it has 130 organizational members and some 1,400 individual members representing more than 130 countries. Due to China's obstruction, Taiwan had previously been represented in IAP meetings and activities by public prosecutors who are individual members. Despite that setback, Taiwan has persistently pushed for organizational membership over the years by filing applications via organizations like the Prosecutors Association, Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Public Prosecutors Office for the Taiwan High Court, MOJ officials said. In February, Taiwan's application to join IAP as an organizational member was included on the agenda of an IAP Executive Committee meeting. Chang Chun-hui, a chief public prosecutor with the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office, along with several MOJ officials, attended the IAP 2009 annual meeting held in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev Sept. 6-10. During the meeting, Chang was conferred by the IAP with a special achievement award for his long-term efforts in cracking down on human trafficking. Members of the IAP Executive Committee told Chang and his colleagues at that time that Taiwan's prosecution system, with high-caliber public prosecutors, was established well enough to assume the responsibility of mutual judicial assistance, according to MOJ officials. The IAP Executive Committee also told the Taiwanese delegates that China had expressed hope that the title Taiwan was using in its application -- the Prosecutors Association, ROC (Taiwan) -- could be changed. 