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
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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
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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
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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
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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