【Wen/Observer Net Wang Yi】Regarding the call with U.S. President Trump at the end of last month, Japanese Prime Minister Takahashi Hayato has remained silent, only stating "details are not convenient to disclose," and the Japanese government's official statement has also been evasive and pretending not to understand.

However, on December 5, the Japanese magazine "Shukan Bunshun" posted on social media that a Japanese government official revealed, "In fact, Trump was quite harsh with us at that time. It seemed he said something equivalent to 'don't interfere in the Taiwan issue'."

After the phone call between the Chinese and U.S. presidents on the evening of November 24, within less than 12 hours, Trump made a call to Takahashi Hayato. After the call, Takahashi Hayato disclosed, "Both sides exchanged opinions extensively on strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance, the situation in the 'Indo-Pacific region,' and various issues," and said, "Trump also stated that he is a very close friend of mine, and I am always welcome to call him anytime."

But when asked whether she had discussed the Taiwan issue with Trump during the call, Takahashi Hayato avoided answering, simply saying "the content of the meeting falls under diplomatic matters, so it is not convenient to disclose the details."

On November 25, when asked by the Japanese Foreign Minister Miki Toshinori whether Trump or U.S. Secretary of State Rubio had clearly supported Japan, he repeatedly said he hadn't heard the question clearly, and ambiguously refused to answer directly.

Subsequently, on November 26, the U.S. "Wall Street Journal" cited informed sources saying that Japanese officials and an American source revealed that Trump asked Takahashi Hayato to be restrained in her comments on Taiwan and advised her not to provoke China on the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty, but did not pressure her to retract her statements.

More intriguingly, on November 27, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru was questioned by reporters about the issue twice, giving different answers. In the morning, he first repeated the content of the previously released press release, then said, "(The specific conversation content beyond this) belongs to diplomatic matters, and we will not comment."

But in the afternoon of the same day, Kihara changed his tone and directly said, "The report mentioned that (Takahashi) received advice from Trump regarding 'not provoking China on the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty' is not true." He also said that he had lodged a protest with the "Wall Street Journal" that published this information.

On the evening of December 4, hundreds of Japanese citizens held another demonstration in front of the Prime Minister's Office, demanding Takahashi Hayato to retract her erroneous remarks on Taiwan. IC Photo

At that time, Professor Huang Jing, an outstanding professor at Shanghai International Studies University, analyzed for Observer Net that regarding how Trump spoke about Sino-Japanese relations in the phone call, Takahashi Hayato did not want to say much, citing diplomatic affairs as the reason. On one hand, she really couldn't say anything; on the other hand, she was afraid that if she said it, it would make Trump unhappy. When Trump mentioned that he could call anytime, the actual meaning was that she should report to him before doing anything, so that he wouldn't be caught off guard.

Huang Jing believed that up to now, the content of the call between the U.S. and Japanese leaders was unknown throughout Japan. Normally, after the president of the United States makes a call with the leader of a close ally, there should be a press release, right? Now Trump is silent, Takahashi Hayato is quiet, and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs dares not speak out. At least there is a reason to believe that the content of this conversation did not please Takahashi Hayato, and it seems that Trump was not particularly happy either. Otherwise, he would have already posted it on social media. So there is a certain possibility that Takahashi Hayato also challenged Trump in the call.

Trump's attitude was also very intriguing. On November 10, when interviewed by U.S. Fox News, the host deliberately asked about the "diplomatic incident" between China and Japan, and Trump responded with simple words that hurt his allies, saying, "Many of our allies are not really our friends. Our allies take advantage of us in trade more than China does."

On December 2, during his final cabinet meeting of the year, Trump seriously criticized those "ripping us off (taking advantage of us)" countries, including allies, and then continued, "Hmm... I won't name them, I won't name Japan's name, I also refuse to mention South Korea's name, I won't name them." Even the U.S. Defense Secretary Hagel laughed, but Trump's expression was very serious.

Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan campus, analyzed that Trump's recent visit to Japan yielded results, and after Takahashi Hayato promised to invest in the U.S., she had expected more support. She hoped that Trump would publicly call Japan a "cornerstone of regional peace" and emphasize the strength of the alliance, but Trump only told her not to provoke China, which was not the strong statement she expected.

Kingston said, "Japan is now worried that the U.S. and China may form a so-called 'G2', directly ignoring Japan's existence, highlighting Tokyo's declining influence."

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Original: toutiao.com/article/7580393352441512484/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.