Taiwan has not recorded any exports of machine tools to Russia since it updated a list of restricted items in March in line with international export sanctions put in place after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said on Friday.
The list of goods banned for export to Russia was updated on March 8, which added 77 categories of machine tool-related items under the Harmonized System, the internationally standardized code system of global trade, the ministry said in a statement.
With local businesses’ cooperation, Taiwan has not recorded any exports of the sanctioned goods in the category of machine tools, the ministry said.
Photo: Liao Chia-ning, Taipei Times
The ban on machine tool exports to Russia and Belarus has been introduced, because the equipment can be used by the military to manufacture artillery, the ministry said.
The penalty for first-time violations of exporting to Russia and Belarus has been increased by over 15 times to NT$1 million (US$31,281), the ministry said.
The ministry’s statement was in response to a more than 60-page report by UK-based think tank Royal United Services Institute for Defence and open-source intelligence organization Security and the Open Source Centre about Russia’s artillery supply chain.
Published on Oct. 15 and titled Ore to Ordnance: Disrupting Russia’s Artillery Supply Chains, the words “Taiwan” or “Taiwanese” were mentioned 10 times.
One section of the report highlighted China’s role as a re-export hub of sanctioned machine tools manufactured by a coalition of countries that have sanctioned Russia.
The report said that at least 2,113 companies supplied machine tools produced in Western countries to Russia during last year and the first three months of this year.
Among these companies, 26.16 percent were Turkish and 17.5 percent were Chinese.
“The rest of the suppliers originate from Germany (8.50 percent), South Korea (6.75 percent), Taiwan (6.08 percent), Italy (5.92 percent), the UAE (4.63 percent), Lithuania (2.47 percent) and Serbia (2.21 percent),” the report said.
The report also said that Chinese companies accounted for 41 percent of Japanese machine tool products exported to Russia, 26 percent of Taiwanese products and 19 percent of South Korean products.
However, only five of the 36 top Chinese companies supplying Russia with machine tools have been sanctioned by the democratic camp led by the US, the report said.
Chinese subsidiaries of 10 companies from the coalition of democracies are listed in the report because their sales to Russia exceeded US$800,000 during last year and the first three months of this year.
Three of the 10 companies in China were set up by Taiwanese firms, two each by businesses based in South Korea, Germany and the US, and one in Japan, the report said.
Asked for comment, the ministry said it would not comment on individual companies, stating only that 19 meetings have been held with Taiwanese businesses this year to update them on the latest international rules as part of efforts to prevent the sale of sanctioned items to Russia.
The government would adjust sanctions in response to global developments, while working with like-minded countries to quash illegal trade, the ministry said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man