Japan snubs US call to bar China from telecoms networks

Japan has refused to join the US campaign to exclude Chinese firms from telecommunications networks, saying Tokyo will adopt its own measures to respond in case it finds concerns over security issues, a Japanese daily reported.

Citing several sources, Japan’s Yomiuri daily further stated on Friday that Tokyo has informed Washington that it cannot join a framework that excludes a specific nation though it will reconsider its decision if the current US plan against China is revised, noting that Japan will continue cooperating with the United States, a close ally.

The development came after the US State Department published an update of a plan called the “Clean Network” in August demanding that Chinese telecom companies, cloud service providers, and mobile apps be kept out of the United States.

According to the daily, hawkish US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the “Clean Network” plan when he met Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Tokyo earlier this month as the Trump administration is pushing its allies to bar Chinese firm Huawei from next generation 5G mobile phone networks on alleged security grounds.

This is while Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary and top government spokesperson Katsunobu Kato reacted to the Yomiuri report on Friday by asserting that he understood there was no specific exchange of views on the “Clean Network” plan during the meeting between Pompeo and Motegi, and that the American side merely explained its overall cybersecurity efforts.

“Our nation wants to continue to strengthen cooperation in the area of cybersecurity with the US,” Kato said during a press briefing on Friday.

He further underlined that Tokyo will also take measures to ensure cybersecurity by taking steps to reduce supply chain risks when procuring information and communication equipment.

The report came just days after China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Asian nations to remain “vigilant” in the face of Washington’s strategy of fueling geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea and other parts of the region.

China warns Asian nations to guard against US strategy of sowing division

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi calls on Asian nations to remain “vigilant” in the face of the United States’ strategy of fueling geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea and other parts of the region.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Malaysian counterpart on Tuesday, Wang further slammed the American Indo-Pacific strategy as a “security risk” to East Asia.

“What it pursues is to trumpet the old-fashioned Cold War mentality and start up confrontation among different groups and blocks, and stoke geopolitical competition,” the Chinese foreign minister said, referring to the US.

“I believe all parties see this clearly and will stay vigilant against it,” he added during his short visit to Malaysia as part of his tour of Southeast Asian countries.

As part of Trump administration’s persisting anti-China campaign prior to the upcoming US presidential election, Pompeo censured what he claimed to be China’s “exploitation” in the region while conceding that Washington sought to halt Beijing’s influence “in the South and East China Seas, the Mekong, the Himalayas and the Taiwan Strait.”

Beijing reacts as Pompeo urges ‘Quad’ alliance against China’s ‘exploitation’

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasts what he refers to as China’s “exploitation,” prompting Chinese officials to tell the US top diplomat to drop his “Cold War” mentality.

The United States has long held an anti-China posture, but it has been significantly ramping up tensions with the country in recent months.

Relations between the United States and China have hit their lowest point in decades over hostilities from Washington in such areas as trade, technology, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights, and the coronavirus.

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