Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　
A fierce Chinese information war is unfolding over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's parliamentary statement that a Taiwan emergency, if it involves the U.S. military, could lead to a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, thus enabling Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense. Japanese and Western media have been influenced by this information war, spreading reports that U.S. President Donald Trump urged Takaichi to show restraint. The Japanese and U.S. governments need to work together to counter China's strategy of dividing the two allies over the Taiwan issue.

Trump convinced by Takaichi’s explanation

At a press conference on November 27, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara addressed an exclusive article by the Wall Street Journal about the November 25 phone call between Trump and Takaichi, stating: “The article claims that Mr. Trump advised her not to provoke Beijing on the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty, but that is not true.” By limiting the denial to that specific claim, however, Kihara left the impression that the denial did not cover the report’s other passages, such as that “Trump suggested to Takaichi that she temper the tone of her comments about Taiwan.”

The Reuters followed up by reporting that Trump asked Takaichi “avoid further escalation in a dispute with China.” The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported next day that “Trump expressed the view that she needs to calm the situation.” Each of the reports was attributed to anonymous Japanese government sources.

However, senior Japanese government officials in a position to know the details of the Takaichi-Trump telephone talks completely denied these reports in response to an inquiry from Yoshiko Sakurai, president of the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals. The officials told Sakurai (1) that Trump did not make any preachy remarks to Takaichi, (2) that as Takaichi explained that her position on a Taiwan emergency was exactly the same as that of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump immediately looked convinced, saying that he understood, (3) that Japan and the United States decided to work together to deal with Japan-China relations, and (4) that the United States knew that China rather than Japan was escalating the confrontation. The Takaichi government should disseminate such information more to publicize facts at home and abroad.

China’s hypocrisy of pretending to be a defender of postwar order

On November 24, the day before the Takaichi-Trump telephone talks, Chinese President Xi Jinping in a phone call to Trump argued that Taiwan's return to China was an important part of the postwar international order and that the United States and China as winners in World War II should jointly protect the results of the war. The Chinese leader thus called for even a U.S.-China joint front against Japan over the Taiwan issue. Furthermore, Beijing in an official report claimed that Trump expressed his understanding about the importance of the Taiwan issue to China, manipulating information as if there was a rift between Japan and the United States over the Taiwan issue.

Such Chinese propaganda hides that China is trying to overturn the postwar international order led by the United States. In order to lead the international community to recognize the hypocritical nature of Chinese propaganda, the Takaichi administration should focus on disseminating information. At the same time, the administration should pay more attention to communications with the United States as the only ally for Japan. President Trump, for his part, is expected to speak out personally in defense of Takaichi, rather than leaving the task solely to U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass.

Yasushi Tomiyama is a senior research fellow and Planning Committee member at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a former foreign news editor and bureau chief in Washington, D.C., London and Bangkok for the Jiji Press.