Taiwan Says ASUS Will Withdraw Business From Russia Amid Calls From Ukraine

Jonney Shih, Chairman of Taiwan's AsusTek Computer, during a press conference in Taipei on May 30, 2016. Asus has announced a complete withdrawal of its Asus Cloud services from China’s cloud storage market to avoid having to comply with its intrusive cybersecurity law. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

Taiwan-based electronics company ASUS will pull out business from Russia in consideration of its reputation, Taiwan’s economy minister said on Monday, following a letter from a Ukrainian minister urging the company to cut ties with Moscow.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov issued a letter to ASUS chairman Jonney Shih on March 10 urging the company to “end any relationship and stop doing business in the Russian Federation until the Russian aggression in Ukraine is fully stopped.”

“We appeal to you to stop relationships with Russia-based clients and partners, including supplying hardware and electronics, providing technical support and services by your company and its affiliates to the Russian Federation,” Fedorov said in a letter posted on his Twitter account.

ASUS did not release a statement following Fedorov’s letter, nor did it respond to a request for comment.

Speaking on the sidelines of a parliament session, Taiwan’s economy minister Wang Mei-hua reaffirmed the country’s support for democracies and that Taiwan had taken measures against Russia, though she could not comment on specific corporate actions.

Wang said that ASUS will provide “overall consideration to its reputation” and will perform “relevant business and personnel evacuation as soon as possible,” based on her “initial understanding” of the company’s situation.

ASUS does not provide a breakdown of revenue by country. For the third quarter of last year, it reported Europe accounted for only a third of its revenue.

The company does have a fully-owned Russian sales unit, though it has similar units all over the world, and a product support unit in Ukraine, according to its latest quarterly report.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked concerns that China may be emboldened and decide to invade Taiwan, a de facto independent country that the communist regime sees as a part of its territory.

Taiwan said it condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and pledged to join sanctions against Moscow. Premier Su Tseng-chang said on March 1 that Taiwan will work with Western countries in their ban of selected Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system.

Currently, there is not much trade between Taiwan and Russia. According to data from Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan exported $1.3 billion worth of goods to Russia in 2021, while importing $5 billion of Russian products. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s trade with Russia accounts for only 0.76 percent of the island’s total trade.

Yen Su-chiu, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association, said that Taiwanese technology firms may face debt and cash flow issues due to the sanctions, even though Russia only makes up 1 percent of Taiwan’s electronic exports.

Yen said this is because most of these technology corporations have facilities in countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia, local newspaper Focus Taiwan reported on Sunday.

Frank Fang and Reuters contributed to this report.