By Tamiyuki Kihara and Yukiko Toyoda
TOKYO (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump asked Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi avoid further escalation in a dispute with China during a call this week, two Japanese government sources with knowledge of the matter said.
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.
That drew a furious response from Beijing, which claims democratically governed Taiwan, and a demand for Takaichi to retract her remarks – which has not been forthcoming.
In Tuesday’s call with Trump, the U.S president expressed a desire for Takaichi to avoid further infuriating Beijing, according to the sources, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
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.
China urged the U.S. to rein in Japan to prevent “actions to revive militarism” in an editorial published by the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party on Thursday.
“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 World War Two, 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, Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office referred Reuters to its earlier official readout of the call between Takaichi and Trump which stated that the two leaders discussed U.S.-China relations, without elaborating.
(Reporting by Tamiyuki Kihara, Yukiko Toyoda and Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Lincoln Feast)
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