Several reports say that Japan is currently pressing the United States to step up its public support for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi amid the spat with China unleashed in the wake of her recent controversial comments about willingness to defend Taiwan.
The Japanese government has reportedly disappointed by what it views as insufficient backing from Washington, after American Ambassador to Tokyo George Glass told reporters last month that Trump and his team “have her back”.
via Reuters
“This is a classic case of Chinese economic coercion, and I just want to say directly from the president and from myself and from the embassy for the Prime Minister, we have her back,” Glass had previously said after a meeting with Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
Takaichi had last month said before parliament that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could present an existential threat which would allow for the deployment Japanese military forces in support of pro-independence allies.
Since then, China – which remains Japan’s largest trading partner – embarked on a series of punitive measures on the economic, tourism, and cultural exchange fronts. Things have also heated up on the military and maritime fronts of late.
Shigeo Yamada, Japan’s ambassador to the US, has a result of Beijing’s ratcheting anti-Tokyo actions directly requested stronger public expressions of support from the Trump administration.
But this apparently hasn’t come. Instead, Trump has reportedly been urging Tokyo to take steps to lower the temperature, especially after a last month phone call with China’s President Xi Jinping:
Later the same day, Trump set up a call with Takaichi and advised her not to provoke Beijing on the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty, said Japanese officials and an American briefed on the call. The advice from Trump was subtle, and he didn’t pressure Takaichi to walk back her comments, those briefed on the calls said.
On Sunday Japan summoned China’s ambassador to protest a dangerous weekend incident in southern waters off Japan wherein Chinese military aircraft allegedly targeted Japanese fighter jets with fire-control radar on at least two separate occasions.
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted the actions of the Chinese J-15 fighters as dangerous and “deeply regrettable”. But Beijing has shot back, describing that Japanese aircraft had obstructed safe flight operations centered on the PLA Navy’s Liaoning aircraft carrier.
🚨🇯🇵🇨🇳 China’s next mistake will be its last mistake!
Japan’s Defense Minister has issued a sharp protest to Beijing after Chinese J-15 jets from the aggressive Liaoning carrier repeatedly locked fire-control radar onto Japanese F-15 fighters in international airspace southeast… pic.twitter.com/ieoRZZVo8T
— Terror Alarm (@Terror_Alarm) December 6, 2025
Meanwhile China continues to take measures, sinking relations with Tokyo further. “A passenger ferry named after an ancient monk seen as a symbol of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange has suspended its service as Beijing continues its retaliation for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan,” reports South China Morning Post of the latest development. Already Beijing has called on all its citizens to avoid travel and tourism to Japan.
China’s embassy has also delivered a new, blistering statement: “China solemnly demands that Japan stop smearing and slandering, strictly restrain its frontline actions, and prevent similar incidents from happening again,” it said.
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