President Donald Trump urged the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi this week to avoid further provoking Beijing over Taiwan, after its recent comments suggesting a Chinese attack on the island could trigger Japanese military action.
Takaichi’s remarks in Taiwan trigger backlash from Beijing
Takaichi sparked the sharpest diplomatic clash with China in years when she told parliament that hypothetical aggression against Taiwan could lead Japan to use force. Beijing, which claims the autonomous island as its own territory, reacted angrily and asked her to retract her remarks, a step she did not take.
Trump balances trade truce and security tensions
In a phone call Tuesday, Trump told Takaichi he wanted her to avoid further infuriating China, according to a Wall Street Journal report confirmed by Japanese government sources cited by Reuters. The sources said Trump, who is trying to preserve a fragile trade truce with Beijing, did not make specific demands but expressed concern that Tokyo’s rhetoric could increase tensions.
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The conversation took place immediately after Trump spoke with the Chinese president. Xi Jinpingwho reiterated that Taiwan’s “return to China” is at the heart of Beijing’s long-term vision for the world order, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. Taiwan’s government, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, has repeatedly said unification “is not an option” for its 23 million people.
China has pressed Washington to rein in its ally. According to Reuters, in an editorial published Thursday, the Communist Party’s People’s Daily asserted that “China and the United States share the common responsibility to jointly safeguard the post-war international order and oppose any attempts or actions to revive militarism,” explicitly invoking Japan’s wartime past.
The White House, in a statement shared with Reuters and attributed to Trump, said relations between the United States and China “are very good, and it is also very good for Japan, which is our dear and close ally.”
Political frictions in Taiwan resurface between major powers
The call is also part of a broader struggle over Taiwan policy. Earlier this year, another WSJ report noted that Xi had asked Trump to explicitly commit to “opposing” Taiwan’s independence, a request that the State Department effectively rejected by reaffirming that the United States opposes “any unilateral change in the status quo on either side” and that China “poses the greatest threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
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