Japan plans to ban government purchases of equipment from Huawei

Japan plans to ban government purchases of equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE, a person with direct knowledge and a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The Yomiuri newspaper, which first reported the news, said the Japan government was expected to revise its internal rules on procurement as early as Monday in a bid to prevent intelligence leaks and cyber attacks.

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

The U.S. 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.