Japan yesterday said that it does not plan to retract or renegotiate its stricter controls on high-tech exports to South Korea, a day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged that the issue be resolved through diplomacy.
Tokyo last week tightened the approval process for Japanese shipments of photoresists and other sensitive materials to South Korean companies.
Such materials can only be exported to trustworthy trading partners, Japanese officials have said, hinting at security risks without citing specific cases.
Photo: AP
They have rejected suggestions that the move was driven by worsening ties between the two nations related to historical issues.
“The measure is not a subject for consultation and we have no intention of withdrawing it either,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.
He was responding to Moon’s appeal for a diplomatic solution thorough “sincere” bilateral discussions, urging Tokyo to withdraw what he described as a politically motivated measure.
Moon on Monday said that Seoul would be forced to take countermeasures if the restrictions on materials used mainly in semiconductors and displays cause damage to South Korean companies, as the curbs have raised concern over possible disruptions for South Korean manufacturers and global supply chains.
The South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that Seoul plans to file a complaint with the WTO.
Japan’s trade measures followed South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean plaintiffs for forced World War II labor.
The export restrictions cover fluorinated polyimides, which are used in organic light-emitting diode screens for TVs and smartphones, as well as photoresist and hydrogen fluoride, used for making semiconductors.
Japanese officials have said that those chemicals are sensitive materials that could be used in fighter jets, radars and chemical weapons, and the decision to tighten controls was based on a lack of trust that posed a risk to national security.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his aides have hinted that there might have been illegal transfers of sensitive materials from South Korea to North Korea.
South Korea has summoned a Japanese embassy official to protest Abe’s suggestion that it could not be trusted to faithfully implement sanctions against the North, South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Kim In-chul said.
South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo said that an “emergency inspection” found no sign of illegal transactions.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS