The bilateral ties between Russia and Taiwan suffered a severe setback when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry vehemently denounced Russia’s conduct in comparing the value of exports (direct imports from Taiwan to the Russian Federation) and total imports the day after the war started.
Since then, the amount of mutual commerce has continuously decreased year over year, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance’s Customs Administration.
However, 62% of Russian businesses indicated in April 2022 that they were unable to locate suppliers in the domestic Russian market, demonstrating Russia’s heavy reliance on imports.
The difference between the total value of all imported Taiwanese goods that Russia receives and the value of Taiwanese exports to the Russian Federation is the basis for data on the volume of such imports.
The Taiwan Power Company, also known as Taipower, was the main purchaser of Russian coal for Taiwan’s energy requirements prior to the invasion. In September 2022, Taipower declared that it had received its last shipment of coal from Russia.
Despite Taipower’s decision to cease importing Russian coal, Taiwan has continued to receive it, albeit at a lower volume. The Taiwan Customs Service reports that Taiwan bought $3.84 billion worth of Russian coal between October 2022 and September 2024.
Indirect supplies did not surpass $840 million yearly in 2019–2021, but they reached $1.75 billion in 2022 and $1.85 billion in 2023.
The European Union and the G7 placed sanctions on Russian fossil fuel exports, including coal, as of August 2022 in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Between March and December 2022, over $133 million worth of Taiwanese machine tools were imported into Russia. As a result, Taiwan was the second-largest supplier of goods to the Russian Federation behind China.
I Ma-chine Tools Corp, Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Ltd., Kao Fong Machinery Co., L.K. Machine-ry Corp., and Akira Seiki Co., Ltd. are the top 5 producers of machine tools imported into Russia in 2022–2023.
When international sanctions were implemented in 2022, Russian businesses had to find ways around them. As a result, importers and manufacturers have had to work with Taiwanese manufacturing facilities via third countries.
In certain instances, Russian businesspeople stamp goods with the names of nonexistent foreign producers, and in other instances, they designate imported machinery as Russian-made.
