Donald Trump asked the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, to avoid further escalation in a dispute with China during a call this week, according to two Japanese government sources who spoke to the Reuters news agency.
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.
Her words drew a furious response from Beijing – which claims democratically governed Taiwan – and demanded Takaichi retract her remarks, which to date she has not done, although the Japanese government said its policy on Taiwan was unchanged.
On the call on Tuesday, the US president expressed a desire for Takaichi to avoid further infuriating Beijing, according to the sources speaking to Reuters. Trump, who is seeking to maintain a fragile trade war truce with China, did not make any specific demands of Takaichi regarding the matter, one of the sources said.
Trump’s request for Takaichi to dial down the volume in the dispute was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The call immediately followed another Trump held with Xi Jinping, in which the Chinese leader said Taiwan’s “return to China” is a key part of Beijing’s vision for the world order, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.
Taiwan, which rejects Beijing’s ownership claim, has said a return to China is not an option for its 23 million people.
In an editorial published by the newspaper of the ruling Communist party on Thursday, the US was urged to rein in Japan to prevent “actions to revive militarism”.
“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 how the two countries shared a common enemy during the second world war, 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.
Asked for comment, the office of Japan’s prime minister referred Reuters to its earlier official readout of the call between Takaichi and Trump which stated that the two leaders discussed US-China relations, without elaborating.
