JAPAN TO HELP U.S. ON ANTI-SUBMARINE DEFENCES
Japan has agreed to help the United States
strengthen anti-submarine defences after illegal
high-technology Japanese exports significantly damaged mutual
security, U.S. Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger said.
    Weinberger told a press conference that exports of Japanese
machines designed to make Soviet submarines quieter and harder
to detect had been a serious blow. But he said he was
encouraged by the punishment dealt to Toshiba Machine Co, a
subsidiary of Toshiba Corp <TSBA.T>, for the illegal exports,
and by Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's assurances that
action would be taken to keep it from happening again.
    The government has barred Toshiba Machine from exporting to
Communist countries for a year and said it intends to
strengthen and expand its export control system.
    Weinberger gave no details of the anti-submarine program.
    In his talks with Japanese Defence Minister Yuko Kurihara,
he said, he made a pitch for American companies seeking to
build Japan's new fighter aircraft for the 1990's.
    "I assured Minister Kurihara that I support his plans to
increase Japanese air defence capabilites and that I believe
American aircraft can do this," he said. The Japanese industry
argues it should develop the fighter plane on its own.
 REUTER
