US President Donald Trump has asked Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takiachi not to further escalate the dispute with China during this week’s talks, sources with knowledge of the matter said, as he tries to preserve a fragile truce in the trade war with Beijing.
Takaichi sparked the biggest diplomatic row with Beijing in years when he told the Japanese Parliament that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan that threatened Japan could justify a military response.
His statement infuriated Beijing, prompting the country to warn its citizens.
In a telephone conversation on Tuesday (25) with Takaichi, Trump said he did not want to see an even greater escalation, said two Japanese government sources, who requested anonymity because it was a sensitive matter.
However, the American did not make specific demands of Takaichi, one of the sources said, suggesting he did not agree to the deal.
Japan said her statements reflected long-standing government policy.
At a regular press conference on Thursday (27), Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara refused to comment on the details of the “exchange of diplomatic words”.
Search for balance between trade and Taiwan
The conversation came after Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who told the American leader that he supports Beijing’s vision of world order, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Democratically governed Taiwan rejects Beijing’s claim to sovereignty.
The US president, , has not publicly commented on whether the talks included Taipei, saying instead that the world’s two largest economies have “extremely strong” ties and are close to finalizing a broad trade deal.
“The United States’ relationship with China is very good, and this is also very good for Japan, which is our dear and close ally,” said the Republican in a statement released by the White House in response to questions from the Reuters news agency.
“We have made wonderful trade agreements with Japan, China, South Korea and many other nations, and the world is at peace. Let’s keep it that way!”
In Tokyo, some officials have long worried that Trump might be willing to soften support for Taiwan as it seeks a trade deal with China, a move they say will embolden Beijing and trigger conflict in an increasingly militarized East Asia.
“For Trump, what matters most are US-China relations,” analyzed Kazuhiro Maejima, professor of American politics at Sophia University. “Japan has always been treated as a tool or an ace in the hole to manage this relationship.”
Trump’s silence alarms Tokyo
Trump’s public silence on the issue has further increased tension in Tokyo.
Washington’s envoy to Tokyo said the United States supported Japan in the face of “coercion” from China, but two ruling party lawmakers told Reuters they expected more emphatic support from their main security ally.
Japan is home to the largest U.S. military concentration abroad, including an aircraft carrier strike group and an amphibious force of U.S. Marines, which limit China’s military ambitions.
Washington has welcomed Tokyo’s defense strengthening in recent years, which has also angered Beijing.
“We would like to hear from Trump himself,” said one of the lawmakers, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump’s public silence could be interpreted as a green light for Beijing to exert more pressure on Japan, he added.
Beijing intensifies rhetoric
China urged the United States to contain Japan to avoid “actions aimed at reviving militarism”, said the People’s Daily, a Chinese Communist Party newspaper, in an editorial published this Thursday (27), which highlighted Japan’s role as a common enemy during World War II.
“China and the United States share a common responsibility to jointly safeguard the post-war international order and oppose any attempts or actions to revive militarism,” he added.
China’s Defense Ministry said Japan will pay a “painful price” if it oversteps its bounds on Taiwan, in response to Tokyo’s plans for Yonaguni, just 110 km off the Taiwanese coast.
Asked about Takaichi’s call with Trump, the prime minister’s office referred Reuters to its official summary, which said the two discussed U.S.-China relations but did not provide further details.
The statement also denied an earlier Wall Street Journal article that claimed Trump advised her not to provoke Beijing over the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Takaichi’s spontaneous comment in Parliament on Taiwan broke with the strategic ambiguity of his predecessors, who refused to publicly discuss scenarios that could be considered a sufficient threat to Japan to trigger military action.
Now that the comments have been made public, they will be difficult to withdraw, officials previously told Reuters, making it even more difficult to defuse a dispute that could harm the economy and usher in a long period of tension in relations between China and Japan.
