The Saturday Paper has reported the US National Security Agency routinely obtains highly sensitive information on issues including US-Japanese relations, trade issues and climate change policy.
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“The reports demonstrate the depth of US surveillance of the Japanese government, indicating that intelligence was gathered and processed from numerous Japanese government ministries and offices”, it said.
The surveillance extends back at least eight years, Wikileaks said.
The United States and Japan have been allies for more than a half-century following the end of World War II. The revelations come from whistleblowing organisation WikiLeaks, which released a list of 35 top secret targets in Japan on Friday morning (31 July).
“The report also indicates that US not only spied on Japan but also passed on the acquired information to Australia, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand, part of US’ Five Eyes” intelligence partners.
The NSA spied on Japan’s prime minister, central bank, finance ministry and major corporations, such as the natural gas division of Mitsubishi, according to documents released today.
TOKYO (AP) The Wikileaks website has published documents that it says shows the U.S. government spied on Japanese officials and companies. “And yet we now know that the United States heard everything and read everything, and was passing around the deliberations of Japanese leadership to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK”, said Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning about sexual-assault allegations. There is only one rule: “there are no rules”.
The full list of NSA high priority targets for Japan was published by WikiLeaks here.
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Wikileaks has previously released files showing the US spied on Germany, France and Brazil – like Japan, all allies.
