![\"64581d76e8d599f2c46efe1754eb46f8\"](\"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/64581d76e8d599f2c46efe1754eb46f8.jpg\" "\\"64581d76e8d599f2c46efe1754eb46f8\\"")
\nTrump and Gao Siamiao<\/p>\n
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takashi held a phone conversation with U.S. President Trump on January 2nd, and the two sides reaffirmed the \u201ctight cooperation\u201d of the U.S.-Japan alliance. According to information released by Japanese media, this call was proposed by the Japanese side, and the U.S. side proposed the specific time of the call, which lasted about 25 minutes.<\/p>\n
\nTrump and Gao Siamiao<\/p>\n
According to Japan\u2018s Kyodo Press, Asahi News, and other media outlets reported on the second day, Takaichi Sanae and Trump held discussions on the \u201cIndo-Pacific issue\u201d on the same day, reiterating that they will maintain close coordination under the current international situation, and reached consensus on promoting cooperation between U.S.-Japanese alliances, U.S.-Japanese-Korean \u201cstates of common cause\u201d and implementing the \u201cfree and open Indo-Pacific\u201d concept. The two sides also confirmed that they will continue to promote coordination on Takaichi Sanae\u2018s visit to the United States this spring. This is also the first time Japanese and U.S. leaders have spoken in about a month since November last year.<\/p>\n
After the call ended, Sanae Takaichi told the media at the Prime Minister\u2018s official residence that it was \u201cextremely significant\u201d to be able to communicate directly with Trump at the beginning of the new year and confirm the solid cooperation of the Japanese-American alliance. She also mentioned that this year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, and the two sides unanimously agreed to make this year \u201ca year that opens a new chapter in the history of the Japanese-American alliance\u201d and deepen cooperation in various areas such as economic and security security.<\/p>\n
According to Japanese media, the Japanese side intends to schedule Takashi\u2018s first visit to the United States in March, ahead of Trump\u2018s possible visit to China in April, aiming to show off \u201cthe rock-solid Japanese-U.S. alliance relationship\u201d to the outside world. This arrangement is also seen by some foreign media as Japan\u2018s early \u201cunified stance\u201d with the U.S., preventing Trump, who is about to visit China, from adopting a lenient stance on China policy.<\/p>\n
However, the \u201cwarm interaction\u201d on the surface of this call can hardly conceal the diplomatic predicament Japan is currently facing. Professor Zhou Yongsheng of the Institute for International Relations at the Foreign Affairs Academy said in an interview with the Global Times on 3rd that Sanae Takashi\u2018s recent series of wrong remarks on the Taiwan issue has pushed Sino-Japanese relations into a highly rigid and antagonistic state, which is the real background for her eagerness to speak with Trump. In the tense Sino-Japanese relationship, South Korea, Russia, North Korea, and many Southeast Asian countries maintain good relations with China, and Japan\u2018s sense of isolation in regional diplomacy is constantly rising.<\/p>\n
Zhou Yongsheng believes that Takashi\u2018s frequent release of his willingness to visit the United States is essentially hoping to use the U.S. \u201cbackup\u201d to help his own government out of its predicament. However, the U.S. side this time only expressed \u201cpromoting coordination\u201d and did not agree on a specific visit schedule, further exposing Japan\u2018s passive position in the alliance relationship. Even so, just by a phone call itself, Takashi\u2018s government could still create a political effect of \u201creceiving U.S. support\u201d in the country. This \u201cdragging the flag to the tiger\u201d operation precisely reflects its inner extreme unease and lack of strategic confidence.<\/p>\n
The timing of this call is also quite sensitive. Just a few days earlier, the Eastern Theater Command of the People\u2018s Liberation Army conducted a \u201cJustice Mission-2025\u201d exercise. However, the Japanese side openly discussed China\u2018s military exercises with Australia, the European Union, and some European countries, publicly expressing their so-called \u201cconcerns.\u201d In response, Lin Jian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in a routine press conference that these countries and institutions are pretending to be deaf and dumb to the \u201cTai-Duk\u201d separatist forces \u201cusing military tactics to achieve independence\u201d, turning a blind eye to external forces interfering in China\u2018s internal affairs, but talking about the necessary actions of China to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, inverting black and white, confusing right and wrong, and being very hypocritical. China firmly opposes this and proposes serious negotiations.<\/p>\n
It is noteworthy that while continuing to send strong signals to China, Japan is also trying to find \u201cspaces of revival\u201d for its own diplomatic predicament. According to the Japanese Jiji Press, the core issue of Japanese diplomacy this year focuses on whether it can improve its stalled Sino-Japanese relations. The report said that Japan is trying to push for dialogue between the two countries\u2018 leaders, but this is not an easy task.<\/p>\n
Domestic public opinion has also raised questions about the Takashi government\u2018s foreign policy. Kyodo said that the lack of moderate voices around Sanae Takashi resulted in his strong tendencies being \u201cbasically unrestrained.\u201d The Japanese Koming Party, dissatisfied with its handling of political funding issues and diplomatic toughness, ended its 26-year joint ruling relationship with the LDP, completely eliminating the moderate forces that had originally played a buffer role in Sino-Japanese relations. At the same time, voices within the LDP familiar with Chinese affairs and advocating pragmatic diplomacy have also become increasingly marginalized.<\/p>\n
The report also said that compared to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Sanae Takashi is considered to lack the ability to strike a balance between toughness and reality. Representative Ichiro Ozawa, Japan\u2018s main opposition party, the Constituent Democratic Party, bluntly said that Takashi\u2018s remarks on the Taipei issue were nothing less than \u201cgetting oil on the fire,\u201d and questioned whether he had misjudged that Trump would \u201cstand unconditionally on Japan\u2018s side.\u201d In Ozawa\u2018s view, Trump has always put American self-interest first and is unlikely to clash head-on with China for Japan\u2018s sake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takashi held a phone conversation with U.S. President Trump on January 2nd, and the two sides reaffirmed the \u201ctight cooperation\u201d of the U.S.-Japan alliance. According to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268,257],"tags":[4032,4031,4029,4030],"views":55,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7679"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7681,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7679\/revisions\/7681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forefrontnews.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}