Analysis: What Are the Concerns of Allowing Chinese EVs Into Taiwan?

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan’s economy ministry is looking to ban indirect imports of Chinese cars after reports that Chinese EV manufacturer BYD plans to enter Taiwan's auto market via Thailand and sell through a local Taiwanese agent. Direct imports of Chinese cars are banned in Taiwan, and vehicles with Chinese components must meet strict localization guidelines. TaiwanPlus spoke with Chiang Min-yen, the deputy director of economic security at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research for his analysis. Taiwan's economy ministry is looking to tighten regulations on indirect Chinese vehicle imports following reports EV giant BYD plans to enter the Taiwanese market via Thailand. Chiang Min-yen from Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research gives his analysis.

Transcript

00:00So what are the biggest concerns here if BYD's electric vehicles were allowed to enter Taiwan's

00:05market via a third party? I would say cyber security concerns and national security concerns.

00:12We all know that EV is relying on a bunch of chips including the camera chips and these chips could

00:21be used easily for the surveillance purpose. So first of all we cannot guarantee that Chinese

00:29region or CCP they have no intention to have more surveillance status on Taiwanese people.

00:38And also according to the Chinese domestic legal system, Chinese citizens, all the private sector

00:45actors, they have the obligation to provide all the information that needed by their government for

00:52the national security purpose. Is this a loophole distributing via third parties that has been

00:59explored before by Chinese companies? I mean in Taiwan, we actually don't allow most of the

01:07commodities imported from China. As you say, they may use some third party entities or third party

01:15country to transfer their product into Taiwan. But in terms of the finished products like BYD,

01:22it's like a big car, a big EV. It is very easy to identify whether there are some illegal transshipments

01:30from the third party. And so I think on this level, it is not a big concern. But what would be the

01:37concerns is include something like components or even like chips. And somehow under certain conditions,

01:47it is allowed, it is illegal to use the chips or the component from China.

01:52Now with these regulations under review, how likely actually is it that these BYD vehicles will actually

01:59be allowed to enter Taiwan? So according to my understanding, the Taiwanese government now,

02:06their attitude is they don't want this to happen. In terms of the current legal systems,

02:12our MOEA, they have the authority to prevent these inputs, include BYD or the other electronics vehicles

02:24from importing from China to Taiwan. But if our legislature, our legislative Yuan, if they want to

02:33proceed this agenda, it is likely that maybe KMT or TPP, these two parties, they could have the new bills

02:44or new proposals to legalize this shipment or the transshipment.

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