Japan Plans Laws to Curb Technology Sales to Soviets

Japan’s trade minister, hoping to assuage American concerns about the improper diversion of technology to the Soviet Union, assured Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger Wednesday that his government was serious about preventing any recurrence.

The Pentagon said in a statement that Weinberger held a 45-minute closed meeting with Minister Hajime Tamura and was apprised of “legislation that will be submitted during the current session of (Japan’s) Diet to increase criminal penalties, extend the statute of limitations and increase administrative sanctions for export violations.”

“Secretary Weinberger welcomed the Japanese government’s intention to pass new laws, which he believes could be very helpful in deterring future violations,” the Pentagon added.

Tamura is the head of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the powerful government agency that oversees Japan’s massive export trade. He is scheduled to meet with a number of top Administration officials and congressional leaders this week.

Tamura’s visit to the United States, although planned for some time, has taken on new urgency because of American outrage over the disclosure that an affiliate of Japan’s Toshiba Corp. and a Norwegian concern sold computer-controlled heavy milling equipment to the Soviet Union.

The equipment can be used to fashion silent submarine propellers, and U.S. intelligence officials believe the Soviets are already deploying submarines with the new propellers, making their detection much more difficult.

The equipment that was sold to the Soviets was specifically barred for export both by national laws and the regulations of the Coordinating Committee for Export Control, an alliance of the United States, Japan and NATO-member countries.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers of both parties told Tamura that they regard Japan as lax on control of strategic technology and they voiced disappointment over corrective measures planned by Japan in the wake of the sales to the Soviets.

Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah) said Japanese efforts to set things right were “inadequate and fail to address the seriousness of the overall export control problem.”

Rep. Don Bonker (D-Wash.) told Tamura’s delegation that members of Congress think Japan was “insensitive to the problem of export control” and to the damage caused the West by the Toshiba affair.