Sensitive exports hard to control, Bureau of Foreign Trade admits

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 18, 2006. It reports that according to the Bureau of Foreign Trade, experts controls designed to keep sensitive technology from falling into the wrong hands are far from foolproof. The problem is faced by many other countries as well.

There are difficulties in determining whether Taiwanese exporters of sensitive commodities has transferred technology that can be used by China for military purposes. The Bureau of Foreign Trade admits that it most likely will not know if certain strategic high-tech commodities have been acquired by dangerous end users after leaving Taiwan.

The Bureau of Foreign Trade has been investigating Taiwanese exporters of high-precision machine tools since 2005, in order to determine if any has violated the government's Regulations Governing Export and Import of Strategic High-Tech Commodities. This move was in response to some foreign media report that China has used sophisticated Taiwanese machine tools to service its missiles and helicopters that can be used to invade Taiwan.

The Bureau of Foreign Trade disputes such report. According to officials, the machine tools most capable of fabricating weapons-grade parts are those outfitted with Computer Numerical Control (CNC) devices. Taiwan imports such technology mainly from Japan, but the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry claims that it is not aware of any media report in this regard.

With its investigation, the Bureau of Foreign Trade seeks to determine whether Taiwanese manufacturers are capable of producing machine tools sophisticated enough to fabricate weapons components by themselves. If the foreign media report is true, then perhaps the Chinese military acquired Taiwanese machine tools that were exported to China after being equipped with imported Japanese or German CNC technology.

At present, Taiwanese exporters must be certified to export high-precision machine tools and other strategic high-tech commodities. Violators face penalties that include fines and prison sentences. The Bureau of Foreign Trade's responsibility is to perform due diligence on the importer and end user as listed by a Taiwanese exporter. However, it is very difficult for the government agency to know if the strategic high-tech commodities ultimately reach different end users after they are exported.