Digicel: US Ambassador Tapia statement is “categorically incorrect”.

Digicel executives listened but did not respond to his comments

United States Ambassador to Jamaica Donald Tapia

According to the Jamaica Gleaner, the out going United States ambassador to Jamaica for the Trump Administration, Donald Tapia stated, during an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner last week, that almost eight months after he took office in September 2019, then chief executive officer (CEO) at Digicel, Allison Cole-Philbert, admitted that the telecoms firm was aware that the Chinese were listening in on his mobile calls.

“Once again, here we go. I am stepping into it again. I said to the CEO of Digicel, ‘the Chinese are listening to all the mobile conversations that I have in Jamaica’,” he claimed, recounting a conversation with the telecoms boss.

“Her answer was ‘we know’. I thought she would deny it,” he added.

The 82 years old Republican who was born in 1938 labelled China “a dragon with two heads”.

He claims China spying was facilitated through Digicel’s use of Chinese-made Huawei technology across its network.

Many argued that Jamaica is been dragged into the power struggle technological warfare between the United States and China.

New York Times published and articled on  Feb. 13, 2020. Updated July 14, 2020: WASHINGTON – The U.S. government has charged Huawei and two of its subsidiaries with federal racketeering and conspiracy to steal trade secrets from American companies, a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s legal fight with the Chinese telecommunications company.

In a federal indictment unsealed on Thursday in the Eastern District of New York, the Department of Justice accused Huawei and its affiliates of a “pattern of racketeering activity” and said the companies had worked to steal trade secrets from six American firms. The stolen information included source code, as well as the manuals for wireless technology.

TAPIA MET WITH DIGICEL EXECUTIVES BUT DENIED HIS CLAIM OF EVENTS

Source- Jamaica Gleaner: Digicel acknowledged, in a statement to The Sunday Gleaner, that Tapia raised the issue of unauthorised activity by Chinese interests on its network during a face-to-face meeting with two senior executives on May 21 last year.

The names of the executives were not disclosed.

“While the Digicel executives listened while Ambassador Tapia aired his opinions and concerns on the matter, they did not respond to his comments, nor indeed did they enter into any discussion with the ambassador on the topic,” the statement said.

“To be clear, any suggestion to the contrary is categorically incorrect,” the telecoms firm insisted, noting that this was the only time that the two Digicel executives interacted with Ambassador Tapia in any way.

Seeking to avert any potential fallout from Tapia’s claim, the telecoms firm disclosed that no “Chinese equipment” is deployed in its core voice and data networks.

“Digicel’s vendors for this are Ericsson and Affirm. Likewise, none of Digicel’s vendors have access to customer data,” the company said, adding that the allegations against the Chinese are unfounded.

The Chinese Embassy declined to comment for this story.

However, it has previously criticised Tapia for similar statements, charging that they were “filled with Cold War mentality and hegemonistic mindset, which fully expose the consistent US practice of arbitrarily interfering in other countries’ domestic and foreign policies and forcing small and medium-sized countries to choose sides”.

This is not the first time Tapia gets in hot water with the Jamaican authorities. Tapia apologized over a series of tweets from his official twitter account in October 2020.

An article published by the by Stabroek News October 29, 2020, wrote the (Jamaica Gleaner) United States (US) Ambassador Donald Tapia has apologised for controversial tweets made from his official Twitter account on Tuesday.According the to article, Tapia found himself in a Twitter storm that saw Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kamina Johnson Smith commenting publicly, taking issue with the posts.

“I spoke with the ambassador [and] he is aware that the engagement was not appropriate for a diplomatic representative. He assured me that it will not recur,” said Johnson Smith on her official Twitter account.

However, Tapia said the tweets weren’t made by him.

“I take full responsibility for what took place. I believe the individual will be leaving shortly, because it was inappropriate … I don’t know what was actually tweeted out, I have not looked at it,” he said on Nationwide News Network.

He added: “To the people that were involved on Twitter, I have to apologise to them, very deeply … I’ve always said that I’m here as your guest and guests don’t talk or act in that matter. I stand by that today as I did the day that I arrived here.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. ambassador to Jamaica exchanged insults with people on Twitter who accused him of interfering in the country’s internal affairs, telling one he used too much marijuana and another that “you drink that cheap stuff.”

According to Reuters, the ambassador Tapia appeared to have deleted his tweets on Wednesday October 28, after Reuters reviewed them.

Tapia, a wealthy Arizona businessman, philanthropist, Republican donor and supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, has been in the post for more than a year. His Twitter account is verified by the social media company.

Reuters: Tapia’s posts ignited a backlash from other users who insulted him, saying his interview comments interfered with Jamaica’s internal affairs.

When one user reminded him of a recent New York Times report that Trump maintains an account at a Chinese bank, Tapia responded with “Too much Ganga,” a misspelling of the word “ganja,” a synonym for marijuana.

Another user accused Tapia of “drinking rum or red bull or your trying to make a joke of me,” and Tapia replied: “I don’t drink and you are a joke.”

When another Twitter user wrote: “I don’t drink American made vodka.” Tapia responded: “You can’t afford it, you drink that cheap stuff.”

State Department regulations prohibit the posting of “offensive or harassing language” and “abusive or objectionable language” on social media.

Tapia laid out his claim warning the Jamaican Government of (hidden) Chinese intent in the affairs of the country.

In the tweets, Tapia said that Chinese technology company Huawei “has a history of spying and supporting authoritarian regimes”.

When one Twitter user stated that Tapia should “leave Jamaica’s internal affairs alone” and that he was “being a bully”,  Ambassador Tapia’s Twitter handle hit back: “sell your freedom and you will be like the people of Hong Kong”.

The Twitter rant became personal, as insults were traded with other twitter users, accusing them of  smoking “too much ganja” and that they “couldn’t have graduated from high school”.