Did Trump ask them to lower temperature on Taiwan? No comment, says Japan

By Akemi Terukina and Yoshiaki Nohara

 

Japan’s top government spokesperson refrained from directly addressing whether US President Donald Trump advised Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to avoid provoking China over Taiwan, following a report suggesting such an exchange took place.  

“I can’t comment further on foreign policy related exchanges,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a regular press conference on Thursday when asked whether the report was true. In this week’s call between Trump and Takaichi, “the two leaders confirmed close cooperation between the US and Japan.”

 

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump advised Takaichi during the call not to provoke Beijing over the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty, citing unnamed Japanese officials and an American briefed on the call. The advice was subtle and the president didn’t pressure Takaichi to retract her comments, the report said. 

 

 

Kihara on Thursday repeated that during the call Trump said Takaichi is his very close friend and she can call him anytime. Takaichi had said Trump discussed his call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which preceded his call with her, without elaborating on the content.

 

Takaichi hasn’t retracted remarks she made on Nov 7 that linked Japan’s security to a Taiwan contingency, the first such instance for a sitting prime minister. At the time she said an attack on Taiwan could be considered a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. 

 

That classification is significant because it would provide a legal justification for Japan to deploy its military to help defend friendly nations like the US, its most important security ally. But the current spat could complicate US efforts to maintain a trade truce with Beijing. 

 

On Wednesday Takaichi said she did not intend to get specific on Taiwan and reiterated the government’s position on responding to regional contingencies — namely, that for any specific incident, Japan will make a judgment taking into account all relevant information. China continues to ask Takaichi to retract her initial remarks over Taiwan. 

 

Meanwhile, the fallout simmers as China continues to issue a steady steam of criticism and roll out retaliatory measures. Beijing warned tourists against visiting Japan, suspended seafood imports and froze film approvals. 

 

Registered guests from Japan and Japanese media outlet reporters will be denied entry to an air show later this week in southern China’s Guangdong Province, Kyodo news reported.