The US has accepted a request from Taiwan to join consultations over Washington’s suspension of advanced semiconductor exports to China, while it rejected a Russian request to be part of the consultations, citing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, two documents released on Thursday by the WTO say.
The US in December last year said that it had received a request from China to engage in consultations under the mechanism of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body.
A WTO document dated Jan. 12 said that China’s request concerns measures adopted by the US pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 and the Export Administration Regulations, which provided the US with the legislative basis to halt exports of advanced semiconductors to China for national security reasons.
Washington accepted a request from Taipei, which has a substantial interest in the matter, to take part in the consultations on the grounds that the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu had a 26 percent share of global semiconductor revenue in 2021 and close bilateral trade ties with the US, one of the documents released on Thursday says.
Under Article 4.11 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Dispute, WTO members who consider themselves to have a substantial trade interest in a certain series of consultations can be joined — which in practice has usually meant sitting on the sidelines — in the consultations, “provided that the member to which the request for consultations was addressed agrees that the claim of substantial interest is well-founded.”
The other document released on Thursday says that the US on Feb. 9 rejected Russia’s request to participate in the consultations.
“In light of Russia’s premeditated and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the US does not intend to engage in business-as-usual activity with the delegation of the Russian Federation, including direct engagement on this matter,” the document says.
“Furthermore, the United States does not consider Russia’s claim of substantial interest to be well-founded,” it says.
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