Cables released by WikiLeaks showed Taiwanese companies involved in exports to help weapons development applications in Iran had prompted the US to request the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) to raise its concerns over Taiwan’s export controls between October 2008 and December 2009.
A cable dated Oct. 22, 2008, from the US Department of State to the AIT said the US recommended that Taiwan deny an export license request for an SV-41 computer numerically controlled (CNC) vertical machining center from the Taiwanese company Roundtop Machinery Industries to a Malaysian intermediary known as Era Machinery.
The US said the technology could be used in a missile or nuclear weapons program and that Roundtop Machinery Industries had falsely identified Era Machinery as the purchaser of machine tools that it intended to re-export from Malaysia to Iran.
Taiwan responded by adding Era Machinery to its exporter watch list in October 2008 after the case was brought to its attention by the US in June and reviewed at a US-Taiwan meeting in September that year, the cable showed.
Another cable dated March 23, 2009 from the US State Department to the AIT showed the US urged Taiwan to scrutinize machine-tool exports to Turkey.
The US said it had found several cases in which an intermediary named Ak Makina in Turkey was working to supply Iran’s Ardalan Machineries Company with a variety of machine tools produced by companies in Taiwan in late 2008 and early 2009.
One of the cases cited by the US in the cable was that in late December 2008, Ardalan Machineries was working with Ak Makina to procure a model XD32H lathe produced by the Taiwan subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Machinery Co.
The machine was capable of performing five-axis machining operations and could be used to manufacture liquid rocket engine and missile guidance components, the US said.
Ardalan Machineries is associated with Iran’s Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, the entity responsible for overseeing Iran’s liquid propellant ballistic missile program.
The cable said that Ardalan Machineries had worked with Ak Makina to purchase Taiwanese equipment also from Akira-Seiki, Vision Wide Technology Co and Taiwan’s Mori Seiki.
On May 4, 2009, the US Department of State provided more information to Taiwan via the AIT in another cable that said Iran’s Faratech CNC Milling Services was seeking to procure a computer numerically controlled rotary table from Tanshing Accurate Industrial Company. The rotary table could be used to upgrade a vertical machining center to perform five-axis machining operations and a machine with such capabilities would be suitable for use in a variety of applications required for the production of ballistic missile, nuclear and advanced conventional weapons components, the US said.
In a cable dated Dec. 3, 2009, the US Department of State once again raised its concerns over proliferation regarding exports by the Roundtop Machinery Industries.
Iran’s Machine Sazi Tabriz, the largest machine tool manufacturer in Iran and a likely supplier of imported machine tools for Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, requested that Roundtop send technicians to Iran to supply and replace parts for a double--column machining center previously supplied by Roundtop to Machine Sazi Tabriz, the cable said.
The machine can perform -precision-machining operations required for the production of missile and other weapons components, it said.
“We therefore would like to ask Taiwan to investigate this activity and consider requiring an export license for Roundtop to provide replacement parts and repair services for this machine,” the cable said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS