Taiwan firm debunks Libya missile link

Britain’s Sunday Times reported that 32 crates of jet propulsion systems and other Scud missile parts disguised as car parts were found at the airport when they arrived on a British Airways flight bound for Tripoli.

Accompanying paperwork indicated that the shipment, which arrived on November 24, was sent to Britain in the name of a company called Hontex, the newspaper said.

“We do have a brand called Hontex and this apparently is why they think we were involved,” said Wang, whose small, unlisted firm makes knitted fabrics as well as synthetic fabrics used in the making of wetsuits.

“We don’t have that kind of technology to make missiles. It’s just ridiculous,” he said.

Wang called the case clearly one of mistaken identity, though he left open the possibility that arms smugglers had used his company’s identity as cover without its knowledge.

“We’ve checked everything and there is no record of a shipment like this. I don’t understand how our company could be involved. They must be mistaking us for someone else,” Wang Chuan-Cheng said.

Taiwan authorities said they had launched an investigation but declined to comment further.

Taiwan is not believed to possess Scuds, short-range ballistic missiles whose design originated in the Soviet Union and that can carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads or traditional explosives.

British officials declined to comment on the Sunday Times‘ conclusion, based on the accompanying paperwork, that other missile part shipments already had reached Libya via Britain.

Britain yesterday said it would protest to Libya.

Foreign secretary Robin Cook said Libya would not be allowed to evade a European Union arms embargo via Britain, which recently re-established relations with the government of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Cook said Britain had long been concerned about Gaddafi’s military ambitions and this was why it did not lift the arms embargo against Libya when it resumed diplomatic ties in 1999 after a lapse of 15 years.