With Japan’s new leader refusing to back down from China’s show of force and claims on Taiwan, Xi Jinping picks up the phone to try to pry the U.S.-Japan alliance apart.

China is trying to impose economic costs on Japan for wading into the issue of Taiwan. But experts say the escalating dispute could ultimately hurt China too.

Japan's new leader prime triggered the dispute by saying Japan could intervene in a confrontation between China and Taiwan.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and President Donald Trump discussed China relations in a phone call on Tuesday, their first talks since the Japanese premier sparked a major diplomatic bust-up with Beijing over her remarks on Taiwan.

Donald Trump has held back-to-back calls with Chinese president Xi Jinping and Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi amid a deepening row between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. Xi told the US president during their hour-long call that “Taiwan’s return to China is an integral part of the post-war international order”.

HONG KONG -- China will suspend imports of Japanese seafood, according to ABC News partner NHK, escalating a diplomatic dispute triggered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent comments suggesting Tokyo could take military action if China attacks Taiwan.

Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister, provoked China earlier this month when she said Japan could consider a military response if China moved to take Taiwan.

China and Japan are two of Asia’s most powerful nations and the region’s biggest trading partners. Yet centuries of intense rivalry mean their economic embrace can never be taken for granted.