context: US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Xi Jinping 习近平 on 24 November 2025. The two leaders, who met roughly a month earlier in Busan, discussed various issues such as trade, fentanyl and Taiwan. On 25 November, Trump also spoke with Japan's new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, who had earlier this month stated that a Taiwan emergency could constitute a 'survival-threatening situation' for Japan, which drew immediate ire from Beijing.
Shen Yi 沈逸 Fudan University International Institute for Cyberspace Governance director made three observations about the Xi–Trump call. In particular, the phone conversation
- has shown that head-of-state diplomacy plays a strategic guiding role during critical moments in PRC–US relations
- has dealt a severe blow to the Japanese right wing and to separatist forces aimed at 'Taiwan independence'
- the leaders call made no mention of Japan yet its implications were unmistakably clear, and it drew a full stop to the Japanese right wing's reckless behavior
- Trumps statements convey an unmistakable message: the highest level of the US Government does not support Japan's recent rhetoric and has no interest in endorsing it
- has demonstrated a key new characteristic of PRC–US relations
- the relationship is gradually entering a new phase defined by mutual achievement as its core feature
The wording regarding the PRC's contribution to victory in WW2 and Taiwan, which Trump used during the call with Xi, is extremely rare in US statements and can be regarded as a major breakthrough, stated Wang Peng 王鹏 Huazhong University of Science and Technology in The Paper.
Wang says, the Trump–Takaichi call
- is far from coincidental in terms of timing
- is widely interpreted as the US timely pushing on the brakes of Takaichi's 'Taiwan Strait adventurism'
- sends a clear warning that Japan's recent remarks on Taiwan exceeded Washington's acceptable limits and must be corrected