Trump throws weight behind Japan’s Takaichi in meeting with Xi, Yomiuri says
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 19.
PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO – US President Donald Trump defended Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi when Chinese President Xi Jinping criticised her in the Sino-US summit in May, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun daily said on May 24, citing unidentified government sources.
Japan’s ties with China have deteriorated since Ms Takaichi suggested last November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan, the democratically governed island China claims as its own, could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
At the Beijing summit, Mr Xi stated that Ms Takaichi and Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te pose a threat to regional peace and urged Mr Trump not to support them, the Yomiuri reported.
In response, Mr Trump expressed his view that Ms Takaichi is not the kind of leader who deserves criticism, the paper said.
No one was immediately available for comment at the Japanese prime minister’s office, foreign ministry or the US embassy in Tokyo outside regular business hours.
Mr Trump had a phone call with Ms Takaichi hours after ending his two-day visit to China. The two leaders reaffirmed an “ironclad” bilateral alliance in that phone talk, Ms Takaichi has said. REUTERS
