Japan, U.S. at Odds on Exports to Vietnam, China : Trade: Tokyo wants Cold War curbs on high-tech items lifted. But Washington holds out.

In a dispute that reflects their conflicting diplomatic aims in Asia, Japan and the United States have squared off over restrictions lingering from the Cold War era on exports to communist countries.

Eager to expand its economic ties with Vietnam and China, Japan has been lobbying the Paris-based Coordination Committee for Multilateral Export Control to ease restrictions on Asian communist nations that have opened their markets to foreign trade.

The committee decided in early June to ease controls on exports to the former Soviet republics, enabling those countries to import, among other things, telecommunications equipment needed for international calls and domestic long-distance dialing.

The committee also invited members of the former Soviet Bloc to join an informal forum on export controls expected to increase their access to other advanced technology.

The restrictions on exports of advanced technology were set up in 1949 by the group of 17 industrialized nations to deny communist countries access to militarily sensitive equipment.

Controls on munitions, high-speed computers, stealth materials and certain machine tools remain in effect.

Western nations, in particular the United States, have resisted Japan’s request that controls on exports to China and Vietnam be eased, arguing that the two communist countries have not made enough progress on human rights and political reform.

The dispute is part of a larger dilemma confronting Japan and the United States as they adjust their diplomacy to reflect the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Japanese business has been chafing for years at government reluctance to provide official support for trade and investment in Vietnam out of respect for U.S. diplomatic and economic sanctions.

Officials here argue that keeping limits in place for all Asian countries unfairly hinders trade and investment in countries that pose no real strategic threat.

Japan also favors lifting controls on exports to Mongolia, although there is less demand for high-tech exports in the largely agrarian country.

“Of course it has an impact,” said Huang Yuefeng, an official of China’s Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, of the controls.

“We hope that these restrictions will be lifted soon so that China can introduce more advanced equipment and technology to promote the development of our economy . . . and raise the people’s standard of living,” he added.

Japanese officials say they do not object to keeping the controls for other countries, which include North Korea, Libya, Iraq, and Iran and Syria.