Taiwan has offered to hold talks with Ukraine to tighten controls on sanctions evasion and illegal transshipment of military-related components, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly named Taiwan as a source of parts used in Russian weapons.
The comments followed remarks by Zelenskyy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he said Russia would be unable to produce missiles without foreign-made components sourced from China, Europe, the United States, and Taiwan.
Taiwan's president welcomes "further exchanges"
In a statement posted on X on 23 January, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Taiwan had long supported Ukraine through humanitarian aid and coordinated sanctions. He said Taipei was open to deeper information sharing with Kyiv to curb illegal third-country routing and concealed end use of restricted goods.
“We welcome further exchanges of information with President Zelenskyy to further clamp down on illegal 3rd country transshipment & concealed end-use,” Lai wrote. He added that any assistance to Russia or violations of export control rules were unacceptable.
Lai also said Taiwanese volunteers had died fighting in Ukraine. “There have been young Taiwanese who have sacrificed their lives to defend freedom in Ukraine,” he said, adding that Taiwan “prays” for peace to be restored.
Taipei says ready to strengthen third-country controls
Speaking later to reporters, Lai said Taiwan was willing to strengthen controls on goods routed through third countries to conceal their final destination, Reuters reported. He added that any information provided by Ukraine would help prevent restricted items from reaching Russia.
Taiwan has joined Western sanctions against Moscow since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has repeatedly tightened export controls on high-tech goods with military use.
Taiwan’s economy ministry told Reuters no semiconductors or machine tools had been exported to Russia since April 2024 and that the government would block any indirect transfers. In November, Taiwan said it was updating export controls to align with the Wassenaar Arrangement on arms and dual-use goods.
Despite these measures, investigations have revealed that Taiwanese precision tools continue to reach Russian military factories through intermediaries in China and Türkiye.
