Trump invites Japan's Takaichi to the US early this year

TOKYO: President Donald Trump invited Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to the United States during a phone call late on Friday, and they agreed to work towards a meeting early this year, officials said.

Trump has already said he will visit China in April, with Tokyo and Beijing in dispute over Takaichi's suggestion in November that Japan could intervene militarily in case of any attack on Taiwan.

Takaichi's comments triggered a sharp diplomatic backlash from China, which has urged its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan and suspended Japanese seafood imports.

She and Trump spoke for 25 minutes, agreeing to further strengthen economic and security cooperation, the foreign ministry in Tokyo said in a statement.

Trump invited Takaichi to visit the United States, and "the two leaders concurred to coordinate in detail to realize the visit to the United States this spring", it said.

The statement did not make clear whether they talked about China, but Trump and Takaichi also "exchanged views mainly on the Indo-Pacific region and confirmed the close cooperation between Japan and the United States," it said.

China launched missiles and deployed dozens of fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels around Taiwan in live-fire drills last week.

The drills drew international criticism from countries such as Japan, Australia, and other European countries.

Trump advised Takaichi not to provoke China in their previous phone call on November 25, the Wall Street Journal reported, but Tokyo denied the report.