🇺🇸🇨🇳🇯🇵 Tokyo Uneasy Over Trump-Xi History

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is reportedly seeking a phone call with Donald Trump after Trump and Xi Jinping invoked the US-China wartime alliance against Japan during Xi’s state visit to Washington on Thursday. The repeated references, made in White House remarks by both leaders, generated unease in Tokyo.

The comments were unusual because they recalled a period when the US and China fought side by side against Japan in World War II, inserting historical memory into a high-level summit otherwise centered on current bilateral ties. For Japan, a core US ally in Asia, such language carries political sensitivity and raises concern over how wartime history is being framed in present-day US-China diplomacy.

The immediate follow-up is diplomatic: Tokyo appears to be seeking clarification from Washington. The episode also adds friction to Japan’s management of both its US alliance and its China relationship.

#Japan #China #USA

@asianomics