UNSCR 1718: TAIWAN SANCTIONS NORTH KOREA

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003681 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/TC AND ISN/MTR E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2026 TAGS: ETTC UNSCR KNNP NK IR TW SUBJECT: UNSCR 1718: TAIWAN SANCTIONS NORTH KOREA REF: A. STATE 169269 ¶B. TAIPEI 3551 ¶C. STATE 175007 ¶D. STATE 178011 ¶E. STATE 178573 Classified By: AIT Deputy Director Robert S. Wang, REASONS 1.4 B/C ¶1. (C) Summary: On October 25, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang strongly condemned North Korea's nuclear test and led Taiwan's Executive Yuan (EY) in passing a package of trade and financial sanctions against North Korea which echo the measures called for in UNSCR 1718. Separately, AIT delivered the export control demarches in Refs C, D and E. End summary. Taiwan Condemns North Korea Nuclear Test -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) While Taiwan is not a UN member, AIT urges Taiwan to abide by UN resolutions whenever possible. In response to Ref A demarche and AIT representations on the need for a strong response against North Korea, on October 25 Premier Su led the EY in passing a package of trade and financial measures along with a strongly worded condemnation of North Korea's actions as a threat to international peace and stability. The proceedings of the October 25 EY meeting are still classified, but Taiwan trade and financial officials have discussed the contents with AIT. Some of the sanctions will come into effect immediately, while others require legislative approval. Financial Sanctions -------------- ¶3. (C) As part of the package of sanctions against North Korea, the EY passed three pieces of draft legislation. The EY will submit the bills to the Legislative Yuan (LY) in the current LY session. Taiwan's Central Bank of China (CBC) and Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) jointly drafted an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Control Regulations, Article 19, and the International Finance Business Regulations, Article 5. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) drafted an amendment to the International Trade Act, Article 6. The two finance bills provide legal authorization to freeze onshore or offshore bank accounts of individuals or entities of North Korea or other designated areas. With this authorization, the FSC and CBC will order all onshore and offshore Taiwan banks to cease any financial transactions involving North Korean persons and entities. FSC and CBC contacts told AIT that these two bills were basically copied from the financial measures Japan recently implemented. They added that Taiwan will spare no effort to sanction North Korea in accordance with UNSCR 1718. Trade Sanctions -------------- ¶4. (C) Our contact at MOEA Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) emphasized that while Taiwan was not a UN member, it was a responsible member of the international community and had agreed to adopt the measures in UNSCR 1718 to restrict trade with North Korea. According to our MOEA contact, the EY forwared to the LY an amendment to the International Trade Act, Article 6 that calls for "strict" control (which our contact interpreted as a virtual prohibition) over North Korean ships or aircraft transiting Taiwan. He noted that the LY still must pass the three amendments before they take effect, but said that accompanying administrative orders gave grounds to immediately begin inspecting North Korean vessels and added 109 items to Taiwan's sensitive commodities list of items that require an export license to be exported/transited/transshipped to Iran or North Korea. (Note: our contact explained that the EY document referred to 104 new items, but MOEA subsequently calculated 109 different items were affected.) Export Control Demarches -------------- TAIPEI 00003681 002 OF 002 ¶5. (S) Separately, AIT relayed the export control information in Refs C, D, and E to our BOFT contacts and explained the comments from U.S. agencies. BOFT did not have an immediate response to the new information regarding possible machine tool exports to Pakistan but said it would look into the allegations. YOUNG