Donald Trump told Japan's PM Sanae Takaichi to lower the tone on Taiwan: Report

Sanae Takaichi

US President Donald Trump called Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi this week and advised her not to provoke Beijing on the question of Taiwan's sovereignty, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Japanese officials and an American briefed on the call.

Trump spoke with Takaichi after Chinese President Xi Jinping called the U.S. president and spoke about China's historic claim to the democratic self-governing island as well as Washington and Beijing’s joint responsibility to manage the world order, the Journal said.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi — who recently angered Beijing by suggesting Japan could respond militarily if China moved against Taiwan — said on Tuesday that she received a phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump shortly after he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Takaichi, a hard-line conservative and Japan’s first female prime minister, told reporters that Trump reached out to her following his conversation with Xi. “President Trump told me that he and I are extremely good friends and that I should call him any time,” she said at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo. She did not say whether the two discussed her recent remarks on Taiwan.

The White House confirmed that the call took place but offered no further details.

Takaichi’s earlier comments — in which she suggested Japan could use military force if China attempted to seize Taiwan — broke with Japan’s long-standing approach of strategic ambiguity and sparked an immediate backlash from Beijing. She had said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could create “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan.

China condemned the remarks, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying Takaichi had “crossed a red line” and warning that Beijing would “resolutely respond.” He added that all countries had a responsibility to “prevent the resurgence of Japanese militarism.” Beijing also applied economic pressure, cancelled official engagements and urged its citizens to avoid travel to Japan.

Takaichi said Trump briefed her on his midnight call with Xi and updated her on the state of U.S.-China relations. She said they also discussed reinforcing the Japan-U.S. alliance and reviewed “development and challenges that the Indo-Pacific region is faced with.”

“We confirmed the close coordination between Japan and the United States,” she said, declining to share further details, citing diplomatic protocol.

Japan has attempted to ease tensions, but China has shown no sign of softening its stance. Tokyo has refused Beijing’s demand that Takaichi retract her Taiwan-related statements, reiterating that its support for a peaceful resolution across the Taiwan Strait has not changed.

While the United States officially takes no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, it opposes any use of force. Trump has maintained strategic ambiguity about whether U.S. forces would intervene in a conflict.

Trump did not publicly mention Taiwan after his call with Xi, though a Chinese readout said Trump told the Chinese leader that the United States “understands how important the Taiwan question is to China.”

The dispute between Tokyo and Beijing has now extended to the international stage, with both governments trading accusations at the United Nations and dismissing each other’s claims as “erroneous.”

*With Agency Inputs