Xi's heated rebuke of Japan's rearmament stuns Trump summit in Beijing

Xi Jinping arrived at the Beijing summit visibly agitated, and when the conversation turned to Japan, he unleashed a rebuke so sharp that it caught Donald Trump's delegation off guard. According to seven people with direct knowledge of the meeting, the Chinese leader launched into a heated attack on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi over what he characterized as Japan's military rearmament. The outburst was unexpected—the subject had not been flagged in pre-summit discussions—and it became the most volatile moment across the two days of talks.

Trump responded by defending Tokyo's security posture, arguing that Japan needed to strengthen its defenses given the North Korean threat. It remained unclear whether the American president explicitly connected this to China, which is actually Japan's primary security concern. The exchange revealed a fundamental misalignment: Xi saw Japanese rearmament as a provocation; Trump saw it as a rational response to regional instability.

Christopher Johnstone, a former senior White House official focused on Japan, observed that Xi's caustic approach had backfired strategically. "His own actions are accelerating the emergence of a far stronger Japan," Johnstone said. He noted that China's anti-Japan rhetoric found little resonance beyond its borders, while Tokyo was actively deepening security ties with Australia, the Philippines, and even South Korea—all nations more concerned about Chinese assertiveness than Japanese militarism.

The deterioration between Beijing and Tokyo had been building since November, when Takaichi stated that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute an existential threat to Japan, potentially justifying military intervention. Though not a formal policy shift, the comment provoked sharp condemnation from China. Since then, Beijing had maintained a steady campaign combining rhetorical attacks with concrete measures, including restrictions on exports of dual-use rare earth materials. On Friday, China's Foreign Ministry pointed out that Japan had increased military spending by 9.7 percent through 2025, marking fourteen consecutive years of growth. "The mask of 'peace-loving nation' is slipping," the ministry declared, "and Japan is sliding toward neomilitarism."

The numbers told their own story. China, the world's second-largest military spender, had increased defense outlays by 7.4 percent the previous year to $336 billion—the thirty-first consecutive annual increase, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Japan, by contrast, spent $62 billion. Yet in its official defense documents, Tokyo had identified China's military activities and external posture as its "greatest strategic challenge," a designation that had only hardened. A preliminary version of Japan's 2026 defense white paper focused on recent instances of Chinese military assertiveness and expressed "serious concern" about deepening military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow.

Trump's comments in Beijing had left Tokyo anxious about American commitment. He had described a record $14 billion arms package for Taiwan as useful "negotiating currency" with China—language that unsettled allies already worried about the durability of Washington's security guarantees. The anxiety deepened when the Financial Times reported that the United States had informed Japan this month that it should expect significant delays in delivery of four hundred Tomahawk missiles ordered in 2024 as a counter-strike capability against China. Trump did call Takaichi from Air Force One on his return flight to Washington, but neither the White House nor Tokyo disclosed what was said.

The summit had exposed a widening gap between how Washington and its allies understood the regional security challenge. Japan was moving toward greater military self-sufficiency, strengthening partnerships across the region, and preparing for a more assertive China. Xi's heated performance in Beijing, rather than deterring this trajectory, seemed likely to accelerate it—a dynamic that neither Beijing nor Washington appeared fully prepared to manage.