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US worried over
Taiwanˇ¦s exports to Iran: WikiLeaks
DIPLOMATIC CABLES: US State Department cables
expressed concern that a number of sophisticated machine tools may have been
exported for use in Iranˇ¦s weapons programs
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter
Cables released by WikiLeaks showed Taiwanese companies involved in exports to
help weapons development applications in Iran had prompted the US to request the
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) to raise its concerns over Taiwanˇ¦s export
controls between October 2008 and December 2009.
A cable dated Oct. 22, 2008, from the US Department of State to the AIT said the
US recommended that Taiwan deny an export license request for an SV-41 computer
numerically controlled (CNC) vertical machining center from the Taiwanese
company Roundtop Machinery Industries to a Malaysian intermediary known as Era
Machinery.
The US said the technology could be used in a missile or nuclear weapons program
and that Roundtop Machinery Industries had falsely identified Era Machinery as
the purchaser of machine tools that it intended to re-export from Malaysia to
Iran.
Taiwan responded by adding Era Machinery to its exporter watch list in October
2008 after the case was brought to its attention by the US in June and reviewed
at a US-Taiwan meeting in September that year, the cable showed.
Another cable dated March 23, 2009 from the US State Department to the AIT
showed the US urged Taiwan to scrutinize machine-tool exports to Turkey.
The US said it had found several cases in which an intermediary named Ak Makina
in Turkey was working to supply Iranˇ¦s Ardalan Machineries Company with a
variety of machine tools produced by companies in Taiwan in late 2008 and early
2009.
One of the cases cited by the US in the cable was that in late December 2008,
Ardalan Machineries was working with Ak Makina to procure a model XD32H lathe
produced by the Taiwan subsidiary of South Koreaˇ¦s Hanwha Machinery Co.
The machine was capable of performing five-axis machining operations and could
be used to manufacture liquid rocket engine and missile guidance components, the
US said.
Ardalan Machineries is associated with Iranˇ¦s Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group,
the entity responsible for overseeing Iranˇ¦s liquid propellant ballistic missile
program.
The cable said that Ardalan Machineries had worked with Ak Makina to purchase
Taiwanese equipment also from Akira-Seiki, Vision Wide Technology Co and
Taiwanˇ¦s Mori Seiki.
On May 4, 2009, the US Department of State provided more information to Taiwan
via the AIT in another cable that said Iranˇ¦s Faratech CNC Milling Services was
seeking to procure a computer numerically controlled rotary table from Tanshing
Accurate Industrial Company. The rotary table could be used to upgrade a
vertical machining center to perform five-axis machining operations and a
machine with such capabilities would be suitable for use in a variety of
applications required for the production of ballistic missile, nuclear and
advanced conventional weapons components, the US said.
In a cable dated Dec. 3, 2009, the US Department of State once again raised its
concerns over proliferation regarding exports by the Roundtop Machinery
Industries.
Iranˇ¦s Machine Sazi Tabriz, the largest machine tool manufacturer in Iran and a
likely supplier of imported machine tools for Iranˇ¦s nuclear and ballistic
missile programs, requested that Roundtop send technicians to Iran to supply and
replace parts for a double--column machining center previously supplied by
Roundtop to Machine Sazi Tabriz, the cable said.
The machine can perform -precision-machining operations required for the
production of missile and other weapons components, it said.
ˇ§We therefore would like to ask Taiwan to investigate this activity and consider
requiring an export license for Roundtop to provide replacement parts and repair
services for this machine,ˇ¨ the cable said.
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