Hong Kong, Oct. 8 (Jiji Press)–U.S. President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping at their summit last month to hold a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, an English-language newspaper in Hong Kong reported Thursday. Xi was not receptive to the proposal, according to the South China Morning Post. During the last U.S.-China summit in Washington, Trump expressed concern that China’s restrictions on rare earth exports to Japan were also affecting U.S. industries, adding that this situation indirectly violates the U.S.-China trade truce. Xi responded that China-Japan relations should be separate from China-U.S. relations. He also claimed that the risk of a resurgence of Japanese militarism is growing. The newspaper also reported that the Japanese government has requested a bilateral summit with China on the occasion of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, next month. However, China suggested that, instead of Xi, Premier Li Qiang, the second-ranking official in the Chinese Communist Party, would meet with the Japanese leader. Japan responded cautiously to this offer, according to the report. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
