Taiwan expands export controls to Russia and Belarus – POLITICO

Taiwan has added new items to the list of goods under export controls to Russia and Belarus in a bid to align with U.S. and EU sanctions and prevent “high-tech goods from being exported for military use,” Taiwan’s ministry of economic affairs announced on Wednesday.

The Ministry “added 52 items to the new export controls list that are primarily related to nuclear energy substances, miscellaneous goods and materials, chemicals, and machine tools,” the statement reads.

Exporters are urged “to comply with export control regulations and conduct due diligence before carrying out transactions to Russia and Belarus,” according to the statement.

The expanded list, published by the Taiwanese Bureau of Foreign Trade, includes torture equipment, such as “finger cuffs” and “spiked batons,” several explosive and chemical agents, like smoke bombs or tear gas, and “explosive detection equipment” using “X-ray,” “nuclear,” or “electromagnetic techniques.”

Taiwan, one of the Asia’s largest tech hubs, had already issued export restrictions to Russia on a range of tech-related goods last April, before extending sanctions to Belarus in May.

Taipei had already quickly aligned with Western economic sanctions against Russia, the day after it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, on February 25.