In an article for Business Weekly Taiwan, I discussed the impact on Taiwan companies amid rising tensions between the United States and China. The U.S. Department of Commerce recently added China-based tech company Hunan Goke Microelectronics to the Entity List, one of the U.S. government lists that impose various levels of trade, travel, asset, and financial restrictions on overseas companies to help protect U.S. national security. Adding China-based companies to the Entity List or another restrictive trade list, often negatively impacts Taiwan companies who rely on trade with China.
As I recommend to Taiwan companies, it’s important to know your customer – it’s important to research fully to know the supply chain and end users of your products. I note that companies in China and anywhere, including the U.S., put a lot of their businesses on the website so you can see the types of activities that they’re engaged in. Company websites are a good starting point for researching companies and exercising due diligence.
The full article, “How Do Taiwanese Businesses Avoid Risks amidst U.S.-China Tensions? Former U.S. Commerce Official: Knowing Who You Are Dealing With,” was published by Business Weekly Taiwan and is available in the PDF here.