The World - News from March 10, 1989

Japan denied U.S. reports that a Japanese firm in line to make a new version of the F-16 fighter jet was involved in construction of what Washington says is a Libyan chemical weapons plant. “We found . . . no evidence that Japanese companies have been involved in this project,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Taizo Watanabe said. “(And) I can now confirm that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has never been engaged in the export of equipment or dispatch of engineers.” Mitsubishi also denied the reports. The Detroit News had quoted unidentified U.S. congressional and Defense Department sources as saying they had been told of Mitsubishi’s alleged participation in the Libyan project.