Soon after departing Beijing for the U.S. last Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to brief her on his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The call was intended to reassure Tokyo after Trump¡¯s high-stakes summit in Beijing.
But Japan can scarcely draw comfort from the symbolism of that phone call.
For Tokyo, the critical issue is whether the U.S. is fundamentally rethinking its approach toward China ¡ª and whether that shift could leave Japan dangerously exposed at a time of rising Asian instability fueled at least in part by Chinese expansionism.
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