Taiwan is to expand the scope of export controls on high-end machine tools for Russia and Belarus in March to stay in line with the tightened sanctions imposed by its democratic partners, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua said on Thursday. Taiwan in 2023 imposed export controls on a number of high-end machine tools to Russia and Belarus. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs added 77 items to the list of machine tools restricted from being exported to Russia and Belarus. The new rule is set to take effect on March 8. Wang said that similar measures to tighten export controls o…