Tokyo's Panic: Trump, Taiwan & China 🤯 💥

World News

Japan has strongly denied a report published by The Wall Street Journal alleging that United States President Donald Trump advised Prime Minister Sanae Takaichinot to provoke China over Taiwan’s sovereignty. In a news briefing on Thursday, Japan’s top government spokesperson, Minoru Kihara, stated unequivocally that “there is no such fact” regarding the article’s claims. The controversy began earlier this month when Takaichi suggested Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, sparking anger in Beijing. Following this statement, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry indicated that Chinese leader Xi Jinping raised the issue during a phone call with Trump on Monday, asserting Taiwan’s eventual return was “an integral part of the post-war international order”. The Wall Street Journal reported that, shortly after this conversation, Trump initiated a call with Takaichi, advising her not to provoke Beijing on the question of the island’s sovereignty. The report cited unidentified Japanese officials and an American source briefed on the call. Takaichi subsequently stated that she and Trump discussed the US president’s conversation with Xi, as well as bilateral relations. “President Trump said we are very close friends, and he offered that I should feel free to call him anytime,” she said.

“Seriously erroneous remarks by failing to address the issue again constitute self-deception,” Guo stated during a regular news briefing. “China will never accept this.” Simultaneously, Donald Trump’s public silence regarding Japan’s escalating dispute with China has exacerbated tensions in Tokyo. Some officials expressed concerns that Trump may be prepared to reduce U.S. support for Taiwan in order to secure a trade agreement with China, a prospect they fear would embolden Beijing and potentially lead to conflict in the increasingly militarized East Asia. “For Trump, U.S.-China relations are of paramount importance,” explained Kazuhiro Maejima, a professor of US politics at Sophia University. “Japan has historically been treated as a tool or a card to manage that relationship,” Maejima told Reuters news agency. Washington’s envoy to Tokyo affirmed the U.S.’s support for Japan in the face of China’s “coercion,” but two senior ruling party lawmakers voiced disappointment, indicating they had anticipated a more robust and unequivocal demonstration of support from their top security ally in Washington, D.C.