Title: Taiwan Issue Looms Over US, China, and Japan Relations

REPORTER:  

A month after US President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, the two leaders spoke again on the phone.

China's foreign ministry says the two discussed Taiwan, adding that the US understands the importance of the Taiwan issue to China.

But in a social media post from Trump, the US president said the call covered topics like Ukraine and Russia, fentanyl, soybeans, and other farm goods — making no mention of Taiwan.

It’s a stark contrast from their meeting last month on the sidelines of the APEC summit, where both sides said Taiwan didn’t come up in their talks.

Taiwan says it has been closely following talks between the US and China. Officials say Beijing is trying to intimidate Taiwan.

In its press release, China once again deliberately and unilaterally distorted Taiwan’s sovereign status and the related historical facts with the main goal of trying to intimidate Taiwan.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a fully sovereign and independent country.

Its 23 million citizens do not have the option of returning to China.

The call comes as China is wrapped in a dispute with Japan, after Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae said a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo. China strongly protested her remarks and ramped up military activity in the region.

But Trump didn’t just speak to Xi, he then went on to have a phone call with Takaichi in their first talk since the Japan-China spat.

Takaichi Sanae (JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER):  

Under the current international circumstances, following President Trump's recent visit to Japan, I believe that I was able to confirm the close cooperation between Japan and the US.

REPORTER:  

But with no details released from the U.S.–Japan call, and Takaichi offering no comment on whether the Taiwan Strait came up, questions are now being raised about how Trump is handling the Taiwan issue.

As time goes on Trump has become increasingly aware that the Taiwan issue is a very difficult problem to manage.

So I think Trump’s current approach is to downplay anything related to Taiwan as much as possible.

But on the flip side, this also means that if Xi Jinping is bringing up Taiwan because of Takaichi’s remarks and goes to Trump to talk about it then having calls with Trump actually elevates Trump’s position as a negotiator between the US and Japan on issues including China and Taiwan.

Trump says he has accepted Xi's invitation to visit Beijing in April, and has also invited Xi for a state visit to the US later next year. With both Japan and China shining a positive light on their relations with Washington, Taiwan is also watching to see how ties between the three countries will evolve.

Hank Hsu and Alan Lu for TaiwanPlus.