JAKARTA - Chinese President Xi Jinping criticized Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi when he met with US President Donald Trump in Beijing on May 14-15.
According to a Kyodo News report quoted on Monday, May 25, Xi called Takaichi's push to strengthen Japan's defense capabilities a form of neo-militarism.
The criticism came after Takaichi in November said in parliament that Japan could deploy defense forces in the event of a conflict related to Taiwan.
Taiwan is a self-governing island, but Beijing claims it as part of China. This issue has long been a hot spot in East Asia.
Takaichi's statement has put Japan-China relations back on the boil. The two countries' relations are often overshadowed by Japan's history of aggression during the war.
According to diplomatic sources, as reported by Kyodo, Trump responded to Xi by praising Takaichi. After the summit, Trump also called Takaichi from Air Force One on May 15 to reaffirm the US-Japan alliance.
Takaichi said he received a detailed explanation from Trump about his meeting with Xi. However, he did not detail the content of the conversation.
Prior to the Trump-Xi summit, Takaichi first visited Washington in March. The visit was made to reaffirm the US security commitment in the Indo-Pacific region, as China's influence continues to increase.
Trump and Xi are expected to meet three more times this year. One of them is when Xi visits Washington in September, as well as in a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
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