The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is investigating a Taiwanese man who was on Friday sanctioned by the US for allegedly helping North Korea procure fuel in contravention of UN sanctions.
The ministry on Saturday evening said that it is reviewing evidence to determine whether to impose targeted financial sanctions on Chen Shih-huan (陳詩煥) for allegedly contravening the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (資恐防制法).
The US Office of Foreign Assets Control said it sanctioned two people and three entities for their alleged involvement in the delivery of refined petroleum to North Korea, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “directly supports the development of DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] weapons programs and its military.”
Photo: AFP
The sanctions targeted two Singapore-registered companies — Anfasar Trading (S) Pte and Swanseas Port Services Pte — and the Marshall Islands-registered New Eastern Shipping Co, as well as Chen and Kwek Kee Seng of Singapore, the US Department of State said in a statement on Friday.
“By designating these entities and individuals, the United States is sending a clear message that we will continue to take actions against those who support the development and sustainment of the DPRK’s military and weapons arsenal,” Blinken said.
The US Department of the Treasury said that the sanctions restrict the companies, Chen and Kwek from engaging in financial transactions in the US or with US entities due to their involvement in the ownership or management of a vessel that had allegedly participated in several deliveries of refined petroleum to the DPRK.
The alleged deliveries contravened UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean vessels and that cap the country’s refined petroleum imports, the State Department said.
The US sanctions came amid an escalating series of missile tests by North Korea, which has fired 41 ballistic missiles so far this year, including the provocative launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Oct. 4.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS