Japan almost a ‘sixth eye’ as Five Eyes keep closer watch on Chinese military, North Korea

Tokyo is one of three new non-member partners to the Five Eyes spy alliance which collects intelligence on North Korean ballistic missile launches

Under the ‘Five Eyes plus’ framework, partners will exchange data on a range of areas, including China’s military, cybersecurity and outer space

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A Japanese soldier uses a pair of binoculars during a live fire exercise in Shizuoka Prefecture. File photo: Bloomberg

Published: 6:00pm, 29 Jan 2020Updated: 9:51pm, 29 Jan 2020

Tokyo has become nearly a “sixth eye” to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance that shares information on North Korean ballistic missile launches, a United States government source said, as the spy group last week joined hands with three new partners.

Under an expanded “Five Eyes plus” framework, the group – which comprises Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the US – will work with Japan, France and South Korea to strengthen intelligence activities on North Korea, government sources from Japan and the US said.

The framework, which does not entail full membership, will also see the eight partners exchanging information on China’s growing military muscle and on newly developing areas such as outer space and cybersecurity, the sources said.

A US government source said Japan’s proximity to China and North Korea, and its capabilities of collecting relevant data through satellites and signals intelligence, made it almost a “sixth eye”.

Japan has long wanted to be a full member of the Five Eyes, which evolved from an intelligence-sharing agreement between Britain and the US in the years immediately after World War II.

But Garren Mulloy, a Japan-based defence expert, said the core countries were unlikely to share all the data they obtained with the new partners.

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