Tokyo - Amid calls within the Japanese government to join the 'Five Eyes' intelligence-sharing alliance, it provided key inputs to the US and the UK regarding Chinese clampdown on Uyghurs, reported Kyodo News.

Five Eyes is a network of five nations -- Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the US who collaborated to better respond to increasing threats by North Korea and China. Japan is on its way to become the 'sixth eye'.

A person close to Japan-US relations disclosed that Japan had provided intelligence to the US and the UK last year on China's forceful detainment of Muslim Uyghur minority people on condition of keeping the source confidential, reported Kyodo News.

The US as well as the UK stepped up their criticism against the Chinese severe crackdown on Uyghurs in the Xinjiang autonomous region, said the source.

Based on the information gathered from Japan, the Trump administration placed a series of sanctions on Beijing for human rights violations against Uyghurs, such as visa restriction on Chinese officials, heightening bilateral tensions, reported Kyodo News.

Earlier, Vice President Mike Pence in 2019 claimed that "Communist Party imprisoned more than a million Chinese Muslims, including Uyghurs, in internment camps where they endure around-the-clock brainwashing." (ANI)