Trump-Xi wartime references unsettle Tokyo as Japan weighs its China strategy

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is reportedly considering a phone call with US President Donald Trump after his references to the wartime alliance between the United States and China unsettled Tokyo. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping both invoked the countries’ cooperation against Japan during Xi’s state visit to Washington on Thursday. The historical references were unusual in the context of the present US-Japan alliance.

Takaichi said on Friday that Japan and the United States were “allies bound by very strong ties” based on mutual trust, but declined to comment on the Trump-Xi summit. Japanese media reported that Takaichi wanted a direct briefing from Trump. She had already moved her address to the United Nations General Assembly forward by two days to secure a 35-minute meeting with the US president on Tuesday.

Shin Kawashima, a University of Tokyo professor, said the key question was why Washington was using the wartime framing now. He said Trump’s remarks could be read in China as US agreement with Beijing’s interpretation of history and its criticism of Takaichi’s administration as “new militarism”. Other Japanese analysts cautioned against concluding that Trump had endorsed Beijing’s position.

Hotaka Machida of the Institute of Geoeconomics called the remarks surprising and awkward for Japan, while warning that China could use the friendly atmosphere as propaganda. Kenichi Doi, from the same institute, said the more important issue was whether the shared history would be used to cast doubt on present-day Japan. Rintaro Nishimura of The Asia Group said the statement alone was unlikely to weaken the US-Japan alliance.

However, he said it was troubling that Washington and Beijing were jointly emphasising their wartime relationship. He expected Tokyo to continue legislative and commercial engagement with China, with the longer-term goal of securing a Takaichi-Xi meeting at an Apec summit in Shenzhen in November. Japan-China official contact has been limited since November, after Takaichi said a blockade of Taiwan could constitute a situation threatening Japan’s survival.

Chinese and other regional analysts said improving US-China ties could nevertheless prompt Tokyo to reassess its own approach to Beijing. Wang Guangtao of Fudan University called Japan’s anxiety an inevitable consequence of closer interaction between Washington and Beijing.