US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI2719

S E C R E T TAIPEI 002719 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PASS AIT/W 
STATE FOR EAP/RSP/TC, EAP/EP, AND NP/ECC/MCCELLAN 
STATE FOR INR/EC/NKWG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2015 
TAGS: ETTC, PARM, PINR, PREL, PTER, TW, Counterterrorism/Nonproliferation 
SUBJECT: TAIWAN MAY TIGHTEN EXPORT CONTROLS 
 
REF: A. TAIPEI 2705 
     B. TAIPEI 2682 
     C. TAIPEI 2475 
     D. TAIPEI 1909 
 
Classified By: AIT DIRECTOR DOUGLAS H. PAAL, REASON 1.5 (B), (D) 
 
1.  (S) As reported in ref A, AIT/T Econ Officer delivered 
the demarche requesting Taiwan assistance to investigate 
possible cases of sensitive technology being sold to Pakistan 
and Syrian entities.  On the margins of the demarche, Wally 
Su, the head of the Board of Foreign Trade Export Control 
Working Group, raised three additional points regarding 
Taiwan and US cooperation on export controls. 
 
Compliance Verification Study 
------------------------------ 
2.  (SBU) Su told AIT/T that BOFT is planning to start 
conducting a survey of 65 machine tool firms to assess 
compliance levels with current regulations.  Su said that 
BOFT would review all customs manifests for machine tool 
exports by these firms to confirm whether they had obtained 
BOFT approval before shipment where required.  In addition, 
BOFT will compile a table of end-users for analysis and plans 
to confirm some of the end-users on the export manifests. 
BOFT also wants to provide the US with its end-user data so 
that the Taiwan list can be compared with unreleased US 
"black lists."  Su indicated that BOFT hopes to have some 
preliminary results from the study in about one month. 
 
US Comments on Draft Export Controls 
------------------------------------ 
3.  (C) Su asked about US comments on Taiwan's draft export 
control plan (reported in ref C).  He noted that Taiwan had 
provided the draft plan to the US two weeks ago and that 
Taiwan wants to raise the plan with its machine tool industry 
as soon as possible.  (Note:  Su was not present at the 
meeting on June 20 when AIT/T met with Peter Ho, Director, 
Export Controls, Board of Foreign Trade.  As reported in ref 
B, Ho had also taken the opportunity to ask if the US had any 
comments on Taiwan's draft export control program reported. 
End Note.) 
 
Expanded Scrutiny 
----------------- 
4.  (S) Su noted that Taiwan's draft export control plan 
calls for a positive requirement for Taiwan firms to obtain 
an export permit to ship machine tools to North Korea.  In 
addition, he said that BOFT is expanding its scrutiny of 
shipments to other countries of concern, such as Iran.  Su 
said that BOFT would like to refer specific cases to US 
officials and receive a rapid response within two weeks.  As 
discussed in ref D, BOFT would refer cases in writing to the 
US via AIT. 
 
5.  (S)  COMMENT:  Taiwan officials miss no opportunity to 
tell us they are expanding and tightening their system of 
export controls.  However, to date, Taiwan has not requested 
US comment on any export control end-user checks or export 
license issuances.  Our sense is that Taiwan is willing, even 
anxious, to have US concurrence on end-user checks, but is 
concerned over how long it will take to transmit information 
to Washington and to receive a response.  In addition, Su, 
and other BOFT officials, regularly note their interest in 
receiving regular updates from US sources regarding names of 
companies that are suspected of involvement in illicit trade 
in sensitive technologies.  End Comment. 
PAAL