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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS