TAIWAN: RESPONSE ON BLUE LANTERN LICENSE 05-

UNCLAS TAIPEI 001563 SIPDIS STATE PASS TO AIT/W STATE ALSO FOR EAP/RSP/TC AND NP/ECC PM/DTCC FOR BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KOMC ETTC KSEP TW SUBJECT: TAIWAN: RESPONSE ON BLUE LANTERN LICENSE 05- 948068 REF: STATE 40724 ¶1. Concerning the purchase application package of DTC CASE number 05-948068, for end user Chung Shan Institute of Science (CSIS). ¶2. Mr. W. Z. Chen who signed the Ring Line purchase orders is the company's chairman. Ms. Felisa Chang, W.Z. Chen's secretary, confirmed that CSIS is the end user of the subject commodities. CSIS contracted Opto Tech Corporation to assemble the subject equipment. Opto then sub-contracted with Ring Line Corp. who serves as the agent to find the components. Established in 1977, Ring Line now serves as agent in Taiwan for Cisco Systems, FORE Systems, Network Appliance, and Sun Microsystems Inc. The company mainly imports network components and supplies domestic companies/institutes in both the private and official sectors. Except offices in Taiwan, Ring Line also set up three branches in Nanjing, Shanghai and Beijing. Contact phone numbers of Nanjing office is 86-025-5771- 1503; in Shanghai office is 86-021-6249-7370; and in Beijing office is 86-010-8229-3216. ¶3. Opto Tech was established in December 1983 in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP),and now is the leading Light Emitting Diode (LED) chip supplier in Taiwan. The company has two factories in the HSIP and one factory in Suzhou, China. Contact phone number of Suzhou factory is 86-512-6665-5226. Mr. Kevin Mo, Manager of the Information & Telecommunication Sales Department, explained that this department is the only office of this company working for the clients in military-associated institutes including CSIS, Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) and the Taiwan Military. After Opto receives contracts from these institutes, they purchase and assemble the components for the clients. When asked why Opto needs to go through Ring Line, Kevin complained that there has been no way for the company to purchase the components in the U.S. directly from manufacturers because the latter always request that the business be done through their own agents, who then get the commission. PAAL