A report saying that US President Donald Trump advised Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to avoid provoking China over Taiwan is not based on fact, a Japanese government official said yesterday.
The official, who asked not to be identified, did not offer details on what was actually said during the call.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump advised Takaichi during their call this week not to provoke Beijing over the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty, citing unnamed Japanese officials and an American briefed on the call.
Photo: Bloomberg
The advice was subtle and the president did not pressure Takaichi to retract her comments, the report said.
The US embassy in Japan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I can’t comment further on foreign policy related exchanges,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said yesterday, when asked whether the report was true.
In Tuesday’s call between Trump and Takaichi, “the two leaders confirmed close cooperation between the US and Japan,” he said.
Kihara reiterated that during the call, Trump said Takaichi is his close friend and she can call him anytime.
Takaichi had said Trump discussed his call with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), which preceded his call with her, without elaborating on the content.
Takaichi has not 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.
Takaichi reiterated Japan’s position on responding to regional contingencies — namely, that for any specific incident, Japan would make a judgement taking into account all relevant information.
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