Taiwan bans export of almost 80 machine tools to Russia, Belarus

Taiwan has added 77 items to the list of machine tools restricted from being exported to Russia and Belarus in a bid to prevent the Russian military from using Taiwan's high-tech products in its war in Ukraine.

That's according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ukrinform reports, citing the CNA news agency.

The items added to the new export controls list include sophisticated equipment called CNC machine tools, machining centers, lathes and turning machines, milling machines, and grinding machines.

The decision is set to take effect on March 8.

Taiwan's government began implementing controls on exports of high-precision machine tools to Russia and Belarus last year and continues to expand their list in parallel with sanctions from the European Union, the United States and Japan.

According to the Taiwanese government, Taiwan's exports of the 77 items to Russia reached $45 million last year, accounting for 1.47 percent of Taiwan's total exports to Russia.

According to the ministry, it has also requested Taiwanese manufacturers exporting to countries such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, which are considered to have a high risk of reshipping the products, to agree not to redirect shipments to Russia and Belarus.

With increasing global awareness of the risk posed by weapon proliferation, if Taiwan's machine tools were found to be exported to Russia for the production of military weapons, this could affect German and Japanese key component manufacturers' willingness to sell their products to Taiwan and thus impact the upstream and downstream supply chain in the machine tool industry.

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