Xi Puts Top US-China Flashpoint Back on Agenda in Trump Call

When Xi Jinping and Donald Trump sat down in South Korea last month to discuss a pause in their trade war, Taiwan surprisingly didn’t come up. Now the biggest flashpoint between the US and China is firmly back on the agenda.

In an hourlong phone call with Trump on Monday, Xi seized on a diplomatic row with Japan in a bid to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan — and shape US policy in its favor. Framing Beijing’s claim as an “integral part of the post-World War II international order,” the Chinese leader reminded Trump that their nations once fought side by side against fascism and “militarism” — a thinly veiled nod to Japan’s expansionist past.