U.S. President Donald Trump asked Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to avoid further escalation in a dispute with China during a call this week, two Japanese government sources said. Takaichi's comments on Taiwan sparked a major diplomatic clash with Beijing.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sparked the biggest diplomatic bust-up with Beijing in years when she told parliament earlier this month that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger Japanese military action. Beijing, which claims democratically governed Taiwan, responded furiously and demanded that Takaichi retract her remarks, a demand that has not been met.
The call between Trump and Takaichi took place on Tuesday, immediately following another between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to China's official Xinhua news agency, Xi stated that Taiwan's 'return to China' is a key part of Beijing's vision for the world order. Taiwan, which rejects Beijing's ownership claim, has said a return to China is not an option for its 23 million people.
In the call, Trump expressed a desire for Takaichi to avoid further infuriating Beijing, according to the sources, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. Trump, seeking to maintain a fragile trade war truce with China, did not make any specific demands regarding the issue, one source said. Trump's request was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
China urged the U.S. to rein in Japan to prevent 'actions to revive militarism' in an editorial published by the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party on Thursday. '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,' the article said, highlighting the two countries' shared enemy during World War Two, Japan.
'The United States’ relationship with China is very good, and that’s also very good for Japan, who is our dear and close ally,' the White House said in a statement attributed to Trump. Japan's Prime Minister’s Office referred to its earlier official readout of the call, which stated that the two leaders discussed U.S.-China relations, without elaborating.