The report comes after the Wall Street Journal claimed the US president told Sanae Takaichi to ‘dial down the volume’ in dispute over Taiwan
Donald Trump asked the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, to avoid further escalation in a dispute with China during a call this week, according to two Japanese government sources who spoke to the Reuters news agency.
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.
Her words drew a furious response from Beijing – which claims democratically governed Taiwan – and demanded Takaichi retract her remarks, which to date she has not done, although the Japanese government said its policy on Taiwan was unchanged.
On the call on Tuesday, the US president expressed a desire for Takaichi to avoid further infuriating Beijing, according to the sources speaking to Reuters. 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.
