Japan to ban Huawei and ZTE from government contracts

Japan is set to effectively ban government purchases of telecommunications products from China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp over fears of intelligence leaks and cyber attacks

The Huawei logo is pictured outside their research facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Reuters

The Huawei logo is pictured outside their research facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Japan is set to effectively ban government purchases of telecommunications products from China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp over fears of intelligence leaks and cyber attacks, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Friday.

The report follows a decision by the United States this year to ban government purchases of Huawei gear.

US intelligence agencies allege Huawei is linked to China’s government and that its equipment could contain “backdoors” for use by spies, although no evidence has been produced publicly and the firm has denied the claims.

In addition, Australia and New Zealand have blocked Huawei from building 5G networks, while Britain’s BT Group said on Wednesday it was removing Huawei’s equipment from the core of its existing 3G and 4G mobile operations and would not use the Chinese company in central parts of the next network.

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