The Taiwan Machine Tool and Accessory Builders’ Association (TMBA) yesterday said that it would continue to adhere to government sanctions against specific exports to Russia, but it did not directly address recent news reports that some of its members had been flouting the regulations.
In a statement, the TMBA said that since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the association has been keeping a close eye on the military conflict and has been reminding its members to stay in line with the export sanctions imposed by Taiwan and other countries.
Since April 2022, the government has been listing goods that are banned from export to Russia, primarily high-tech products.
Photo: CNA
The sanctions on the export of strategic high-tech commodities (SHTC), as they are called, are aimed at preventing their use by countries like Russia, Belarus, Iran and North Korea for military purposes, and at upholding Taiwan’s commitment to international cooperation, the government has said.
The original SHTC list included nuclear energy materials, electronic items, computers, telecommunications and information security products, sensors, lasers, navigation and avionics items, and maritime, aerospace and propulsion systems.
In January last year, the International Trade Administration (ITA) — the government agency that handles such matters — added 52 items to the SHTC list for Russia and Belarus, including chemical products and machine tools.
Citing an investigative report, the Taiwan-based news site The Reporter on Wednesday said that some Taiwanese machine tool suppliers had been taking advantage of the loopholes in export controls to sell sensitive products not only to Russia’s military, but also to its Lebedev Physical Institute and Budker Nuclear Physics Institute, which are on a banned list compiled by the US Department of Commerce.
The Chinese language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Tuesday reported that ITA officials had met with representatives of Taiwan’s machinery and machine tool exporters and their business associations earlier in the week, asking them to carefully investigate their clients to prevent breaches of the sanctions.
The TMBA yesterday said that it had asked its members to pay close attention to the sale and distribution of their products so that the goods do not indirectly end up in the sanctioned countries.
The TMBA added that it has advised its members to immediately stop supplying finished machine tool products and components to the sanctioned countries, regardless of whether the products are on the SHTC list.
That is a precaution to prevent the use of those products for unknown purposes, which could accidentally breach international export controls, the TMBA said.
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