Japan is expected to announce soon that it will ban the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment when it comes to government purchases.

The country is doing so over security concerns, cites a source familiar with the matter.

The U.S. has a similar ban in place, and Australia and New Zealand refuse to use Huawei equipment for its planned 5G networks.

This hasn’t been the best week for Huawei, with their CFO getting arrested in Canada for reportedly violating US sanctions against Iran. Now, to make matters worse, Reuters just broke a story saying that Japan will reportedly announce soon that it will ban the use of Huawei equipment from government purchases.

If Japan follows through with this alleged plan, the country will join the United States government in banning Huawei equipment. Australia and New Zealand also refuse to buy Huawei equipment for their planned 5G networks.

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The Reuters source of this Japan information said that the primary motive behind the expected ban is security concerns. The source also said the government will institute a similar ban against another Chinese manufacturer, ZTE.

Huawei has fought long and hard against rumors that it has direct ties to the Chinese government, and also denies it could feasibly use its equipment installed around the world to spy on other nations. Although the company denies the motivation or ability to do this, it hasn’t stopped these countries from instituting bans anyway.

ZTE, however, has been neck-deep in scandals over the past year, with the company nearly going bankrupt due to legal troubles. Strangely, U.S. President Donald Trump stepped in to save ZTE at the last minute — even though he also backed the ban of Huawei government purchases.

Meanwhile, in Britain, BT Group is removing Huawei equipment from its existing 3G and 4G networks, and will not use Huawei for future networks. However, there is no rumored government ban in the works as far as the United Kingdom goes.

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