TAIWAN EXPORT CONTROL ISSUES

S E C R E T TAIPEI 004335 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/TC, EAP/EP, ISN/MTR MHARDIMAN DEPT PASS AIT/W E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2015 TAGS: ETTC PARM PINR PREL PTER TW CBW MTAG SUBJECT: TAIWAN EXPORT CONTROL ISSUES REF: A. STATE 145151 ¶B. STATE 195747 ¶C. STATE 196367 Classified By: AIT Acting Director David Keegan, Reason 1.4 b/d ¶1. (S) In response to ref B message on the inappropriateness of a Taiwan presentation at the upcoming APEC export control event, Executive Yuan Counterterrorism Office Chief Kuo Lin-wu questioned what the Taiwan delegation would do in Hawaii if not allowed to present. AIT explained at length the importance of the Hawaii event to the goal of keeping security issues on the agenda in APEC and noted that there would still be opportunities for Taiwan delegates to speak during the question and answer periods. It was unclear whether the AIT remarks, in the absence of an agenda, convinced Kuo of the value of attending. Action request: Please provide the latest agenda for the APEC export control event. ¶2. (S) AIT also delivered ref A non-paper, ref B answers to Taiwan questions, and ref C comment on export license application 94-000412 to BOFT officials. There was no immediate response from the Taiwan side, except to note that the timeframe for comments on export licenses and the list of sensitive items would probably both need additional "bilateral" discussions. BOFT Chief Secretary Peter Ho said that his traveling to Washington after Hawaii would need to be cleared by his supervisor and by the Minister of Economic Affairs. He said he recalled from the August talks that NP/CBM Director Van Diepen said he would return to Taiwan for another round of talks after 120 days, early December. ¶3. (S) BOFT presented a two-page paper "Taiwan's Progress in Strengthening Export Control Measures" and a list of 89 commodity codes that will be added to the lists of "sensitive" commodities that will require a license whenever they are exported or re-exported from, or transit/transship Taiwan. AIT's initial assessment of the list is that there are three main types of commodities added: 1) almost all machine tools are now considered sensitive; 2) many types of machinery related to IC production have been added; and 3) several additional chemicals have been added. AIT has faxed the two BOFT papers to EAP/TC. KEEGAN