HONG KONG - U.S. President Donald Trump urged his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to repair ties with Japan and lift Beijing's export curbs on Tokyo during their talks in September in Washington, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported Thursday.
Trump said China's export restrictions on Japan-bound items including rare earths pose a "threat to American industries reliant on Japanese suppliers," describing them as "an indirect violation of the U.S.-China trade truce" reached in South Korea in October last year, the SCMP said.
The U.S. president also called on Xi to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the two leaders' discussions.
The Chinese leader was "not particularly receptive" to Trump's requests during the summit, instead saying Beijing's dispute with Tokyo should be kept separate to, and should not affect the U.S.-China relationship. Xi also warned of "the growing risks of Japanese militarism," according to the report.
Sino-Japanese ties have sharply deteriorated since Takaichi suggested in parliamentary remarks last November that an attack on self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims, could trigger a response from Japanese defense forces in support of the United States.
Infuriated by her comments, China has since increased political and economic pressure on Japan, including trade curbs on rare earths needed to manufacture various high-tech products. Beijing has also criticized the Takaichi government's defense buildup policies, claiming that "neo-militarism" is on the rise in her country.
The SCMP also said Japan had earlier pushed for talks between Takaichi and Xi on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit to be held in southern China's Shenzhen next month, but Beijing had rejected the request.
Instead, China offered a meeting between Takaichi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang, but Tokyo signaled that was unacceptable.
