Thursday, March 04, 2010

Taiwan pledges to maintain control on high-tech commodities

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) The government is determined to continue its control measures on strategic high-tech commodities (SHTC's) and to work with the international community to prevent nuclear proliferation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday.

In response to reports in the local media and by the Associated Press (AP) , Department of North American Affairs Director-General Harry Tseng said the ministry has been handling a case in which a Taiwanese company was involved in the transshipment of 108 Swiss-made nuclear-related gauges to Iran.

"The ministry was informed of the case last March and has been dealing with it since that time, " Tseng said.

According to the AP report, China's Roc-Master Manufacture & Supply Co. placed orders for the pressure transducers with Heli-Ocean Technology, Swiss manufacturer Inficon's agent in Taiwan, early last year. Roc-Master later changed the shipping destination from Shanghai to Tehran.

The device was not on any embargo lists, Tseng pointed out, adding that Heli-Ocean Technology's client was also not from any of the countries on the SHTC watch-list.

"The company did not violate Taiwan's regulations on sensitive high-tech commodities, " he said.

When the news broke out last December, several U.S. Congressmen expressed their concerns to Taiwan, Tseng went on.

Taiwan began implementing the SHTC export control measures in 1995 and established a "sensitive commodities list" (SCL) on commodities exports to Iran and North Korea in 2006, he said.

"Taiwan has been cooperating with various countries, including the U.S., Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and Israel, on the SHTC controls, " he said.

According to the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) , Taiwan's sensitive commodities export watch-list is based on the European Union's "Community Regime for the Control of Exports of Dual Use Items and Technology" and the "Common Military List of The European Union."

According to an anonymous Taiwanese official, Taiwan had contact with a foreign intelligence agency after the transaction and the agency provided intelligence that it suspected an Iranian entity could be procuring pressure transducers from a company in a third country and using them for nuclear proliferation purposes, AP reported.

The official was quoted by AP as saying that the government has decided to require Heli-Ocean to declare any further sales to the Iranian company before they can go ahead.