Recently, Hezbollah in Lebanon has been rocked by the “pager explosion case”, with the pagers in question suspected to have originated from a Taiwanese company. In response to this, Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party legislator Chen Guanting has called on the government to strictly enforce export control regulations while balancing national security with industrial development.
Hezbollah’s pagers exploded in multiple locations on the 17th, causing casualties and injuries. The pagers were alleged to have come from Gold Apollo, a company based in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Gold Apollo released a statement clarifying that the model AR-924 pagers were manufactured and sold by BAC Consulting KFT, with Gold Apollo only providing brand authorization and having no involvement in the design and production of the product.
Legislator Chen Guanting of Taiwan expressed his views on the Hezbollah pager explosion case and the potential misuse of Taiwanese products for military purposes. He emphasized in a media group post that the government has relevant control measures in place but should not excessively restrict the export of general goods.
Regarding the risk of the global supply chain being entangled in warfare, Chen Guanting stated, “The Ministry of Digital and Economic Affairs has already established strategic regulations for the import and export of high-tech goods. We will closely monitor the enforcement of these regulations, especially concerning the export of strategic commodities to countries like North Korea or Russia. Any violation of these regulations would seriously jeopardize Taiwan’s national security and interests.”
Chen Guanting further pointed out that Taiwan is closely cooperating with the United States to strengthen export controls. “We will also request relevant departments like the Ministry of Economic Affairs to establish better communication channels with organizations like the American Institute in Taiwan to ensure that our companies do not engage in activities that harm the security of our country and friendly nations.”
However, Chen Guanting stressed the importance of not overreacting. He explained, “Some electronic products are mass-market items without high sensitivity. They may be modified by third-party countries for use in ways that affect other nations. It is difficult to solely blame a single manufacturer in such situations.”
Using examples, Chen Guanting illustrated, “For instance, some low-end, affordable mass-market products are susceptible to modifications. We may not be able to fully control these types of products, but we must ensure that regulatory resources are concentrated in the most critical areas.”
Chen Guanting emphasized, “In the future, we will continue to rigorously monitor the government’s regulatory performance to ensure the balance between safeguarding national security and protecting the legitimate rights and international competitiveness of Taiwanese businesses. We must achieve a balance between these two aspects.”