If you've been wondering where Attorney General John Ashcroft has been lately, we have the answer, thanks to Buzzflash: On a tour of Japan, China and Hong Kong.

Ascroft is due in Beijing Wednesday (which is Tuesday, or today here). He is scheduled to annouce the opening of a Beijing FBI office on Thursday.

The tour is part of a joint anti-terrorism and crime-fighting drive between Washington and Beijing. Ascroft first stopped in Tokyo and will be going on to Hong Kong after Beijing.

It's not known who he's meeting with in Beijing, but it isn't Chinese President Jiang Zemin who left China Tuesday for Bush's Texas ranch.

After his meetings and speech in Tokyo, Ashcroft said Washington and Tokyo were "making progress in negotiating a treaty to hasten the exchange of information in legal cases, including the prosecution of terrorists." The treaty he is referring to is The Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). According to Agence France Presse, it would allow US and Japanese authorities to pool information in criminal investigations without having to go through the normal diplomatic channels.

The treaty would be a first for Japan. Ashcroft said we already have such agreements with 40 countries.