Japan

Tokyo, September 25, 2026. Three days of diplomatic pomp in Washington, but for the Japanese press, the essential thing is what the Trump-Xi summit did not settle. On Wednesday, September 23, Xi Jinping was welcomed at Joint Base Andrews by Donald Trump himself, a rare gesture that Kyodo News and the Mainichi emphasize: a 30-meter red carpet, a 21-person honor guard, and a flyover by two B-1 bombers. On Thursday, September 24, the two presidents held closed-door talks before a state dinner at the East Room, attended by Tim Cook, Jensen Huang, and other American tech leaders. Donald Trump hailed a "very great friendship" with Xi Jinping, stating that their countries had "never been better understood"; Xi responded that Chinese and American interests are "deeply intertwined" and that "competition must remain healthy and be maintained within limits," reiterating his warning against the "Thucydidean trap."

But Kyodo News relays, dispatch after dispatch via the Xinhua agency, that Xi Jinping also "urged the United States to treat the Taiwan issue with caution and to oppose independence" — a line that the Japanese press places on the same level as the images of conviviality, given the proximity of the archipelago to the strait. On artificial intelligence, the only area where a fundamental opening is reported, Xi proposed "not to erect barriers" to the development of AI, and Trump said he wanted to "leave it exactly where it is"; however, no agreement was formalized. The Mainichi notes that neither Trump nor his administration announced any concrete agreement, despite the ceremonies. On trade, Kyodo recalls that the one-year tariff truce, concluded in South Korea last October, is set to expire on November 10, and that the American trade representative, Jamieson Greer, mentions possible reciprocal tariff reductions on "non-strategic" goods. Japanese correspondents finally note the decor: pandas promised to the Atlanta zoo, an eagle statue offered by Trump, and black sesame-grilled bar on the menu — a "diplomacy of pomp" that, for Tokyo, does not dispel either the Taiwanese dispute or the uncertainty surrounding artificial intelligence.