PM Takaichi says Japan, US agree to collaborate on various issues over China

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Sept 26 she and US President Donald Trump had agreed during phone talks to collaborate on various issues regarding China such as economic security, following Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this week.Takaichi told reporters that Trump had explained “in detail” about his summit with Xi in Washington on Sept 24, adding that Japanese and US leaders holding talks twice in a week, including their in-person meeting in New York, demonstrates the strong Japan-US alliance.Takaichi met Trump on Sept 22 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in an apparent effort to align Tokyo’s views with Washington ahead of the US-China summit.At the Sept 24 Trump-Xi talks, cooperation between the United States and China in World War II was brought up as Xi said that they “stood shoulder to shoulder in the fight against Japanese militarist aggressors”, after Trump called the two countries “allies” in the war that ended in 1945 with Japan’s defeat.Takaichi stressed that Japan and the United States are “now allies with the highest mutual trust” and that she and Trump affirmed their countries’ commitment to peace and stability in the region and the world during their 20-minute phone conversation.Sino-Japanese ties have frayed since Takaichi, known for her hawkish security views, infuriated China by saying last November that an attack on Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by Beijing, could trigger a response by Japanese defence forces.Takaichi and Trump also had talks by phone in May after the Trump-Xi meeting in China earlier that month. KYODO NEWS