AKIPRESS.COM - Tokyo described claims that Washington spied on Japanese politicians and major firms as “deeply regrettable” in its first official response to revelations from WikiLeaks on Monday, says IOL News.

“I will withhold comment. But If this is true, as an ally, it's deeply regrettable,” the government's top spokesman Yoshihide Suga told a regular press briefing.

Suga added that Tokyo was checking with the U.S. on the Wikileaks report issued on Friday.

The latest WikiLeaks intercepts exposing U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) activities follow other documents that revealed spying on allies including Germany and France, straining relations.

Japan is one of Washington's key allies in the Asia-Pacific region and the two countries regularly consult on defence, economic and trade issues.

Claims that Washington spied on Japanese trade officials, among others, came just as delegates negotiating a vast free-trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership failed to reach a final deal after several days of intense talks in Hawaii.

WikiLeaks said the U.S. intercepts showed “intimate knowledge of internal Japanese deliberations” on trade issues, nuclear policy, and Tokyo's diplomatic relations with Washington.

“The reports demonstrate the depth of U.S. surveillance of the Japanese government, indicating that intelligence was gathered and processed from numerous Japanese government ministries and offices,” it said.