Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2013 October 30 - November 5 [WORLD]

US has lost face in wiretapping scandal

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

Europe is filled with indignation against the United States, according to media reports. The U.S. National Security Agency has allegedly been wiretapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other national government leaders as well as collecting communication data on citizens in France and Spain. This was revealed in a large volume of confidential documents turned over to media by former CIA employee Edward Snowden.

The NSA was also found to have hacked into the emails of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and former Mexican President Felipe Calderon. It may have tapped the leaders of 35 countries, the UN headquarters in New York, and UN national representatives.

Information covered by the U.S. surveillance activities could cover a wide range of areas, from other countries’ foreign affairs, military, arms trade, and security, to economy, finance, energy, and environment.

While Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has kept silence on this issue, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide only repeatedly states that the Japanese government is working to secure its information, giving stance in support of the U.S., Japan’s most important ally.

Meanwhile, the Abe Cabinet is now promoting the enactment of a bill to protect state secrets, which would allow the Japanese government to share information with its allies and keep information away from its own citizens’ eyes and ears.