TOKYO: Japanese wireless carrier SoftBank Corp said on Aug 20 that it was pleased its 5G network had been given "clean" status by the US government as part of a US effort to exclude Chinese vendors from next-generation networks.

The US State Department says "clean" status is aimed at protecting sensitive information "from aggressive intrusions by malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party". SoftBank, its domestic peers and many other telcos around the world have received the designation.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has ramped up measures to restrict leading Chinese tech firms from accessing Western technology and markets.

It expanded curbs on China's Huawei Technologies on Aug 17, banning suppliers from selling chips made using US technology to the firm without a special licence. Huawei has already been excluded from telecoms networks around the world.

Parent SoftBank Group Corp has broad exposure to both countries, with stakes in Chinese tech firms like TikTok's parent ByteDance and facial recognition technology developer SenseTime. A large part of investments via its US$100bil Vision Fund are in the United States.

Chief Executive Masayoshi Son's efforts to placate the United States include a job creation pledge made to then President-Elect Trump in 2016.

 - Reuters