Progress has been made in Taiwan's negotiations with the United States on the possibility of a bilateral extradition arrangement, Taiwan's representative to Washington, Jason Yuan, said Monday. According to Yuan, the U.S. administration took Taiwan's request for such a pact seriously and responded with 'good intentions.' However, he admitted that the U.S. executive branch is unable to clinch a treaty with Taiwan because of the lack of official ties between the two countries. In order to sidestep this obstacle, Yuan said, the U.S. administration has joined hands with Taiwan to persuade Congress to come up with a bill that would have the same effect as an extradition agreement. 'It is a sign of the smooth communications between our representative office and the U.S. administration, ' Yuan went on, adding that Taipei used to have difficulty even conveying its requests to the U.S. executive branch, far less working with it. Although there are positive signs in the negotiations, there is red tape to circumvent and Congress has many other bills pending enactment, Yuan continued. Just as Taiwan's requests for visa exemption privileges for its people when visiting the United States, a bill with the effect as an extradition pact will need time and patience, he said. 'I do not want to mislead our people into believing that this could be achieved any time soon,' Yuan said. Owing to the lack of an extradition arrangement, many of Taiwan's most high- profile fugitives are taking refuge in the United States, to the great chagrin of the Taiwanese authorities, who are powerless to bring them to justice. Notable among these are Huang Fang-yen, who is alleged to have helped former President Chen Shui-bian launder his money, as well as Ching Chi-ju, who is reported to have duped the Foreign Ministry out of US$30 million, and Wang You- theng who stands accused in Taiwan of bilking billions of dollars from a business group he founded. Chen Yu-hao, another business tycoon who is wanted for fraud in Taiwan, embarrassed former President Chen Shui-bian during his run for re-election in 2004 by claiming at a news conference in California that he was one of Chen's political contributors. 