Japan has described claims that the US
spied on Japanese politicians and major firms as “deeply regrettable”,
in its first official response to revelations by the whistleblower group
WikiLeaks.
The latest WikiLeaks intercepts exposing
US National Security Agency (NSA) activities follow other documents that
revealed spying on allies including Germany and France, straining
relations.
“I will withhold comment. But If this is
true, as an ally, it’s deeply regrettable,” Yoshihide Suga, the
government’s top spokesperson, said on Monday.
He said Japan was checking with the US on the Wikileaks report issued on Friday.
Japan is one of the key allies of the US
in the Asia-Pacific region and the two countries regularly consult on
defence, economic and trade issues.
“We have strongly requested intelligence
director Clapper confirm the facts,” Suga said, referring to James
Clapper, National Intelligence director.
Claims
that Washington spied on Japanese trade officials, among others, came
just as delegates negotiating a vast free-trade agreement known as the
Trans-Pacific Partnership failed to reach a final deal after several
days of intense talks in Hawaii.
The US and Japan are the two biggest
economies in the 12-nation negotiations, but they have sparred over key
issues including auto sector access and opening up Japan’s protected
agricultural markets.
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