China yesterday placed the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and seven Taiwanese companies on its export control list to “safeguard national security interests,” although some of the firms said that the change would have a limited effect on their business.
The seven Taiwanese firms were Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空工業), GEOSAT Aerospace & Technology Inc (經緯航太科技), JC Technology Inc (仲碩科技), CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船), Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Group (中信造船), Lung Teh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) and Gong Wei Co (攻衛公司).
Chinese firms are banned from exporting to the seven companies materials that can be used in both civilian and military applications, including ongoing transactions, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said.
Photo courtesy of Aerospace Industrial Development Corp
Suppliers must file a special circumstances application and secure permission to gain an exemption, the ministry said, adding that the policy took effect immediately.
However, CSBC Corp said that its suppliers of components for building submarines and coast guard vessels are mainly in Europe and North America, while its contracts with the military exclude the possibility of sourcing from “red” suppliers.
Suppliers for the commercial vessels it makes are mainly in Japan and South Korea, with Chinese suppliers only accounting for a small percentage, the company said, adding that it would not be able to accurately gauge the policy’s effects until it examines its details.
Lung Teh Shipbuilding said that its preliminary assessment is that this policy would not prevent it from fulfilling contractual obligations with Taiwan’s military.
Components that it imports from China for civilian contracts could be replaced with items produced in other countries, it said, adding that the new policy would have little effect on its business.
AIDC said that it was still evaluating potential repercussions of the new policy.
It does not use Chinese components in the work it does for Taiwan’s military, but it does source from Chinese suppliers for its civilian contracts, it said.
Many certified aviation industry suppliers are based in China, the company said.
The Ministry of National Defense told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that the Chungshan Institute is banned from using Chinese components to research and develop weapons for the military.
The defense ministry said it aims to completely eliminate reliance on the China-centered supply chain by encouraging suppliers to manufacture their products in Taiwan.
The Chinese policy change shows that the government’s policy banning the institute from sourcing from “red” supply chains is on the right track, the defense ministry said.
The Mainland Affairs Council said that China was once again weaponizing economic measures to threaten Taiwan.
Its multidimensional coercive tactics against Taiwan would not be tolerated by Taiwanese, and would do nothing to ensure peaceful and stable development, the council said.
Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致), director of Taiwan Thinktank’s China Studies Research Center, said that Beijing timed the policy change announcement to respond to policies of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, including President William Lai’s (賴清德) “Ten Lectures on National Unity.”
The export bans were also likely a response to the recall campaigns against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, which China’s Taiwan Affairs Office recently commented on, Wu said.
“The symbolic significance of the bans would outweigh their actual impact, because there are few links between Taiwanese military contractors and Chinese military suppliers,” he said.
Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an associate professor in Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of China Studies, said that there are three possible explanations for China’s timing of the policy announcement.
First, Taiwan recently imposed export controls on Chinese chipmakers Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯) and Huawei Technologies Co (華為), Chang said.
Second, Beijing views the Han Kuang military exercises, which began yesterday, as a means for “separatists” to seek Taiwanese independence, he said.
“Third, China needs to once again reassure its public that it is strongly against any attempt” at Taiwanese independence, “and to threaten Taiwan if it dares to do so,” he added.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS