Recently, U.S. media revealed that "Trump warned Takahashi not to provoke China on the Taiwan issue." Upon the release of this information, the Japanese side responded twice on the 27th, but the two responses gave different answers.

At a regular press conference held in the morning, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kiichi Miyazawa first repeated the content of Japan's previous statement, and then said: "The specific details of the conversation (other than that) are part of diplomatic exchanges and will not be commented on."

However, at the afternoon press conference, Miya changed his tone and directly stated: "The report mentioned that Takahashi received Trump's advice to 'not provoke China on the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty,' which is not true." He also said that they had lodged a protest with the U.S. media outlet, The Wall Street Journal, that published this report.

Regarding the question of why there were two different answers on the same day, Miya said: "Given that the government received many inquiries, we judged it necessary to clarify this."

However, an earlier report by Sankei Shimbun mentioned that Japanese government sources revealed that during a phone call between the leaders of the U.S. and Japan, they indeed discussed the deterioration of Sino-Japanese relations, and mentioned the need for cooperation to ease the situation.

Kiichi Miyazawa, photo from Sankei Shimbun

On the evening of November 24, under the initiative of the U.S., the heads of state of China and the U.S. had a telephone conversation. Soon after, President Trump proactively requested a call with Japan.

Previously, when asked whether the topic of Taiwan was discussed during the call, Takahashi avoided answering and only responded that "the content of the meeting is within the scope of diplomatic exchanges, so it is not convenient to disclose the details."

However, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal on the 26th, citing informed sources, Trump criticized Japanese Prime Minister Takahashi during the call, urging her not to provoke China on the Taiwan issue. According to Japanese officials and one informed U.S. source, Trump asked Takahashi to moderate her rhetoric, but did not pressure her to retract her statements.

On November 27, regarding the relevant reports, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jia Kun stated, "The phone call between the leaders of the U.S. and Japan is a matter between the U.S. and Japan, and we do not make comments. The Taiwan issue is China's internal affair, and no external forces should interfere."

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7577328428563644974/

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