U.S. president urges Xi to hold Japan-China summit; China does not agree - Hong Kong newspaper

[Hong Kong Current Affairs] On the 8th, the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post (electronic version) reported that at the US-China summit held in Washington in September, President Trump requested President Xi Jinping to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Mr. Xi reportedly did not agree.

Chinese Foreign Ministry official calls out Prime Minister Takaichi, says Japanese government says it's natural to show respect to China

Mr. Trump conveyed his concerns to Mr. Xi that China's restrictions on rare earth exports to Japan are having an impact on U.S. industry. He emphasized that this is an indirect violation of the trade truce between the United States and China.

In response, Mr. Xi pointed out that Japan-China relations and US-China relations should be separated. He also argued that ``the risk of Japanese militarism is increasing.''

The paper also reported that the Japanese government has asked China to hold a Japan-China summit meeting to coincide with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in November in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. The Chinese side proposed a meeting with Premier Li Qiang, who is second in the Communist Party hierarchy, instead of Xi. The Japanese side is said to have expressed disapproval of this.