Export controls designed to keep sensitive technology from falling into the wrong hands are far from foolproof, the Bureau of Foreign Trade said on Friday, adding that the problem is one that many countries face.
The bureau acknowledged that there were difficulties in determining whether Taiwanese exporters of sensitive commodities had transferred technology that could be used for military purposes to China.
The bureau's Import/Export Administration Division Director Peter Ho (
"But this is not just a problem for Taiwan; many major exporters have this problem," Ho said.
The bureau issued a press release on Friday stating that it had been investigating Taiwanese exporters of high-precision machine tools since last year to determine if any had violated its Regulations Governing Export and Import of Strategic High-Tech Commodities.
Taiwanese tools
The release was issued after a report last Thursday by the Japanese-language daily Sankei Shimbun claiming that China has used sophisticated Taiwanese machine tools to service the more than 800 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan, as well as attack helicopters that could be used in an invasion of the country.
Ho also disputed the accuracy of the report, saying, "Sankei Shimbun quoted the Ministry of National Defense in its report, but the ministry has never approached us about this problem."
Ho said that the machine tools most capable of fabricating weapons-grade parts were those outfitted with Computer Numerical Control (CNC) devices -- technology that significantly enhances the precision of the tools. Taiwan imports CNC technology mainly from Japan, he added.
"I talked with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on the phone yesterday, and they don't know anything about [the Sankei Shimbun report], either," Ho said.
The trade bureau's investigation also seeks to determine whether Taiwanese manufacturers are capable of producing machine tools sophisticated enough to fabricate weapons components by themselves, he said.
"If the Sankei Shimbun report is accurate," Ho said, "then perhaps the Chinese military acquired Taiwanese machine tools that were exported to China after being equipped with imported Japanese or German CNC technology."
Ho said Taiwanese exporters must be certified to export high-precision machine tools and other strategic high-tech commodities, and that the bureau performs due diligence on the importer and end user as listed by the exporter.
Difficult to control
"However, it's very difficult for us to know if the [strategic high-tech] commodities ultimately end up with different end users than the ones first listed after they're exported," Ho said.
Despite this difficulty, Ho rates cooperation with exporters as high due to penalties that include fines and prison sentences for violators of export control regulations.
Ho said that the regulations and procedures were modeled after those in the US, and the bureau regularly consulted with such US government agencies as the defense and state departments in deciding whether to permit domestic exporters to export strategic high-tech commodities to certain end users.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS