TAIWAN PLEDGES TO INVESTIGATE EXPORT CONTROL CASES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003725 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE PASS USTR STATE FOR EAP/TC AND DS/IP/EAP USTR FOR STRATFORD AND ALTBACH TREASURY FOR OASIA/LMOGHTADER E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2018 TAGS: ASEC ETTC ECON ETRD PREL SNAR TW SUBJECT: TAIWAN PLEDGES TO INVESTIGATE EXPORT CONTROL CASES REF: A. TAIPEI 3552 ¶B. TAIPEI 3454 ¶C. TAIPEI 3288 Classified By: AIT DIRECTOR STEPHEN YOUNG FOR REASONS 1.5 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: On October 30, Taiwan Director General of the Ministry of Justice, Investigation Bureau Yeh Cherng-maw assured AIT Director Young of full cooperation in investigating export control cases and other illicit trade. End Summary. ¶2. (C) On October 30, AIT Director Young met Ministry of Justice, Investigation Bureau (MJIB) Director General Yeh Cherng-maw (Pinyin: Ye Sheng-Mao) to brief him on his recent consultations in Washington regarding export control issues. The Director thanked Yeh for MJIB cooperation to investigate illicit trade in other areas such as narcotics trafficking. The Director was accompanied by Econ Chief and RSO. Yeh was accompanied by an interpreter as well as half a dozen staffers, including Zhuang Ming (James),Director - MJIB Foreign Affairs Office, Curt Lee, Section Chief - MJIB Foreign Affairs Office, Deputy Section Chief Lin Yun-he and MJIB Special Agent Jack Duan, Foreign Affairs Office. Export Controls -------------- ¶3. (C) The Director said North Korea's declared nuclear test emphasized the need to improve controls over exports of sensitive technologies by the U.S. and all of its partners. He noted that Vice President Cheney's staff advised the Director the Vice President is personally following the status of export control efforts in Taiwan and elsewhere. He also noted that Taiwan has taken a number of important steps in enhancing export controls, but urged greater enforcement efforts. In particular, he urged even closer cooperation among the various Taiwan agencies responsible for detecting and investigating suspect transactions to keep sensitive technologies from falling into the hands of terrorists or supporting weapons programs in North Korea, Iran, Syria or China. The Director advised Yeh that he had conveyed these same points to President Chen Shui-bian, Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (REFTEL A),Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Ruey-long and Secretary General of the National Security Council (NSC) Chiou I-jen. ¶4. (C) Yeh assured the Director that MJIB continues to pay close attention to export control issues. He recounted how Taiwan's NSC has coordinated export control issues in Taiwan and asked MJIB to conduct electronic surveillance of North Koreans traveling in Taiwan. At Yeh's request, Deputy Section Chief Lin reported MJIB has monitored some North Korean visitors. Lin said the biggest problem in the export control cases is that goods often go through third countries and the final end user is not clear. He asked for more detailed intelligence from the U.S. in trying to track down individual cases and pledged to share information with his U.S intelligence counterparts. The Director noted the U.S. is already providing intelligence information and asked for Taiwan to provide us information on its investigations. Lin suggested more reliable data from the U.S. would make the process easier. The Director acknowledged MJIB's efforts and asked for enhanced actions, including devoting designated resources to exclusively conduct timely and thorough investigations of suspected export violations. He also noted that while some investigations may not result in prosecutions, the process may well turn up useful information to track down proliferation networks and interdict shipments. ¶5. (C) The Director said Taiwan needs to deal severely with violations of its export control regulations, as a warning to proliferation networks that Taiwan and its partners will not tolerate such actions. The Director said we want Taiwan's help to ensure North Korea is not in a position to threaten its neighbors. Yeh assured the Director Taiwan remains committed to strong enforcement of export control regulations and will continue to work closely with AIT to improve enforcement. Counter-narcotics -------------- TAIPEI 00003725 002 OF 002 ¶6. (C) Yeh and the Director concluded the meeting with a short discussion of U.S.-Taiwan cooperation on counter narcotics and drug interdiction efforts. Yeh praised MJIB's strong relationship with the AIT Regional Security Office as well as other Federal law enforcement agencies based in Hong Kong, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). He specifically cited a recent joint investigation in which DEA Hong Kong shared detailed information about the location and cargo of a vessel suspected of transporting drugs from India to Taiwan. Based on this information, Yeh said Taiwan's Coast Guard was able to track the ship and intercept it when it entered Taiwan waters, seizing a large shipment of ketamine. He pledged to continue this type of cooperation in export control cases and trade in other illicit goods in the future. Working with China -------------- ¶7. (C) Yeh said MJIB has been able to work with authorities in China on some cases involving smuggling over the "mini three links" (xiao san tong) established between Taiwan's offshore island of Jinmen and coastal Fujian Province in China. At this local level, Yeh said his team has been able to work with Chinese officials of the Public Security Bureau (PSB, Gong An Ju). However, Yeh indicated that MJIB remains unable to work cooperatively with Chinese officials at the central level. YOUNG